Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France

2 large folio volumes, half red morocco with corners, crowned monogram in the center of the covers, spine with raised bands superbly decorated, completely untrimmed.
Superb period armorial binding signed "Simier, relieur du roi" Louis XVIII.

545 x 358 mm.

Taylor, James and Nodier, Charles. Picturesque and Romantic Journeys in Old France, by Messrs. Ch. Nodier, J. Taylor, and Alph. de Cailleux.
Paris, P. Didot the Elder, printer to the King, MDCCCXX, 1820-1825.
Upper Normandy.

First edition.

“One of the earliest and most important French productions in lithography” (Brunet). 242 lithographs on mounted China paper: I: 82 plates, including one plate numbered bis, and 7 sketches; II: 153 plates, including 2 plates numbered bis. List of subscribers. These lithographs are by Villeneuve, Hip. Lecomte, J. -B. Isabey, Carle and Horace Vernet, Géricault, Bonington (Rue du Gros-Horloge in Rouen – Church of St Gervais in Gisors – Tour du Gros-Horloge in Evreux…

The first collection of French heritage. Driven by Charles Nodier, James Taylor, and Alphonse de Cailleux, the Picturesque and Romantic Journeys project was monumental: the complete collection consists of 24 volumes published by Firmin Didot between 1820 and 1878, covers all the regions of France, and includes nearly 3,000 plates. Exploring the monuments of “Old France,” these Journeys represent one of the first rehabilitations of Gothic art. This defense and illustration of architectural heritage, particularly medieval, is at the heart of Romantic aesthetics. Published in 39 installments, this Journey, the first in the collection, is dedicated to Upper Normandy.

“In 1820, Charles Nodier had embarked, together with Messrs. Taylor and A. de Cailleux, on an important publication, the ‘Picturesque and Romantic Journeys in Old France,’ a large folio. This extensive work, appearing in successive installments and accompanied by lithographs, necessarily proceeded with the slowness imposed upon costly undertakings. By the time of Nodier's death, twelve volumes had appeared; Normandy, Franche-Comté, Auvergne, and Languedoc were the subjects; he contributed interesting and vividly written pages to these Journeys, but most of the text is not by him.” (Michaud).

Copy in exceptional condition, bound at the time by Simier, with the crowned cipher of Marie-Caroline, Duchess of Berry and with the ex-libris of the Château de Rosny (Cat. 1837, No.1905). Plates 16 and 17 bis are here hand-colored at the time. Scattered and insignificant foxing, which is rare for this work, and small marginal tears on a few leaves.

Marie-Caroline-Ferdinande-Louise of Bourbon-Sicily, daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, and Marie-Clementine, Archduchess of Austria, was born in Naples on November 5, 1798. On June 17, 1816, she married Charles-Ferdinand d’Artois, Duke of Berry, second son of the future Charles X, who was assassinated on February 13, 1820. The Duchess of Berry, widowed at 22, devoted herself to the education of her two children, Louise-Marie-Thérèse d’Artois and Henri-Charles-Ferdinand-Marie-Dieudonné, Duke of Bordeaux, born posthumously. Very courageous, she tried in 1832 to instigate a legitimist uprising in the Vendée, which failed. Betrayed on November 7 of the same year by the converted Jew Deutz, she was imprisoned in the citadel of Blaye, where she gave birth to a daughter fathered by Count Hector Lucchesi-Palli, whom she had secretly married in 1831. Released in June 1833, she was kept at a distance by the royal family and was stripped of the education of her son. She lived in Venice and died on April 17, 1870, at the château of Brunnsee in Styria.

This princess, with highly developed artistic tastes, had constituted in her château of Rosny, near Mantes, a luxurious library remarkable not only for its choice of editions and the richness of its bindings but also for the importance of the manuscripts it contained.

Brunet, V, 684-685; Vicaire, VII-763; The Making of Romanticism, Charles Nodier and the Picturesque Journeys, Musée de la Vie romantique, October 11, 2014 – January 18, 2015.

Included: A precious album, half long-grain red morocco, gilt fillets and title on spine: “Romantic Journey in Old France – Vignettes” (Period binding).

Very rare gathering of the 37 original lithographs which served as vignettes or tailpieces for Taylor and Nodier’s “Normandy,” in separate impressions on thick white paper, before all printed text, mounted on tabs. Of particular note is a lithograph by Bonington: Church of Saint-Taurin, in Evreux (Curtis, 20), 1st state (of 2), before all text, and another by Géricault: “William the Conqueror brought back after his death to the Church of Boscherville” (Delteil, 78), 1st state (of 2), before the master’s name and any text (3 proofs cited by Delteil).
All these lithographs, executed and dated from 1819 to 1824, are remarkable for the quality of their printing. It is very likely that this carefully bound set from the period comes from the archives of the printer Engelmann.

Extremely rare, if not unique.

Provenance: Duchess of Berry; Marcel Lecomte.