Debucourt

Voyage dans Ie Levant en 1817 et 1818. First edition.

réf. 51-4752 — Paris: Imprimerie royale 1819. Large folio. New full calf by the artisan bookbinder Sasha Mosalov. Part of original spine and front cover title preserved Complete with 80 plates.Colas 1089; Brunet II 1337; not in OCLC.Nicolas Nicolaides: Baron Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin later count de Forbin la Roque-d'Anthéron 1777 – ΠαÏίσι 1841 was a French painter author and antiquarian. He was also a pupil of painter Jacques-Louis David. During the Bourbon restauration Forbin served as general director of the Louvre Museum and other museums of France.Inspired by the travels of François-René de Chateaubriand Forbin sailed out from Toulon on 22 August 1817 to tour the eastern Mediterranean. Like Chateaubriand Forbin travelled on his own initiative without an order from the French government; however since the aim of his journey was to discover Greek and Roman antiquities and to draw landscapes of the places he would visit he was able to travel on the ships of the French fleet of the Levant Flotte du Levant.In his venture Forbin was accompanied by painters Pierre Prevost and Léon Matthieu Cochereau also a pupil of David and a nephew of Prévost as well as architect Jean-Nicolas Huyot. Abbé de Forbin-Janson later bishop of Nancy was also a member of the company for the first part of the journey while Huyot had to retire when he fractured his leg on Milos island. In addition twenty-four year old Cochereau died of dysentery off the coast of Cythera and was replaced by Linant de Bellefonds who at the time was a mate on "Cleopatra" the mission's ship. De Bellefonds resigned from his position on the ship and participated in the expedition as a painter and chartographer. When the expedition ended in December of 1817 de Bellefonds decided to stay on in Egypt and explored its territory as member of several missions. From 1831 to 1869 he served the kingdom of Egypt as chief engineer of several public works including the Suez Canal.The expedition sailed to Acre Galilee and thenceforth travelled by land. While in Palestine the travellers visited the Dead Sea and Jordan river reached Cairo and sailed the Nile down to Upper Egypt. The main places they visited includde Milos island Athens Constantinople Ephesus Acre Jerusalem Gaza Damietta Cairo Luxor Thebes Rosetta and Alexandria. When the expedition returned to France in April 1818 Forbin had spent approximately 28.000 francs on the purchase and transportation of antiquities some of which ended up in the Louvre collections at the time Royal Museum of France. Prevost drew panoramic views of Jerusalem and Athens but succumbed to pneumonia in 1823 without completing his panorama of Constantinople.The descriptions of Forbin show him to be a mature observer in possession of deep humanistic culture. Forbin also travelled to Sicily in 1820 and published his travel account as he had done with his expedition of 1817.Moyen-Orient - FORBIN Claude Comte de. Voyage dans le Levant. Paris Imprimerie Royale 1819.Atlas seul in-folio 74 x 55 cm ; demi-maroquin rouge à coins dos lisse orné. 3 ff. 110 pp. 1 f. pp. 111-132 80 planches numérotées 1-78 dont 70 lithographies par Baltard Bourgeois Fragonard Lecomte Vernet… d’après Forbin Vernet Isabey et Fragonard 8 aquatintes par Debucourt et 2 plans in fine.L'atlas in-folio qui accompagne l'édition originale du Voyage dans le Levant en 1817 et 1818 de Forbin ne fut tiré qu'à 325 exemplaires.Peintre et archéologue élève de David le Comte de Forbin fut nommé par Louis XVIII directeur du Musée du Louvre. Il entreprit ce voyage en Grèce en Asie Mineure en Palestine et en Égypte en 1817 et 1818 sur une frégate de l'escadre du Levant. Sa mission était d'acheter des antiquités pour le Louvre.De la bibliothèque Paul Lagrave avec son ex-libris au contreplat et de la bibliothèque du Comte François Chandon de Briailles 1892-1953 descendant des fondateurs de la fameuse maison de Champagne avec son ex-libris sur la première garde. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1819. unknown