Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213
Auction Closed
November 12, 04:34 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213
FOSSATI, GASPARD
Aya Sophia Constantinople, as recently restored by order of H.M. the Sultan Abdul Medjid. London: P. & D. Colnaghi, 1852
FIRST EDITION, folio (555 x 450mm.), chromolithographed title and 25 hand-coloured lithographed plates, heightened with varnish and mounted on card (issue without captions), 3 leaves of text, original morocco-backed cloth portfolio with label on upper cover, title slightly spotted, text leaves rather spotted, stained and frayed, binding worn
THE RARE DELUXE ISSUE, WITH HAND-COLOURED PLATES MOUNTED ON CARD. Four of the plates, if joined, provide a magnificent roof-top panorama of Constantinople.
Court architect to the Russian royal family, Fossati travelled to Constantinople in 1837 to work on the building for the Russian Embassy. He completed the project in 1845 and entered the service of the Porte, designing the archives building, the telegraph-office, the hospital of the Ministry of War, as well as churches and private villas. In 1847, he was charged with the restoration of Hagia Sophia: this took two years and involved the removal of buttresses which had been added to protect the structure and the uncovering of valuable mosaics. The mosaics were subsequently covered up and are not illustrated in the present work. Fossati intended to publish a separate work on the mosaics, but this never materialised.
LITERATURE:
Atabey 454; Blackmer 619; cf. Abbey, Travel, 396 & 397