GREECE


CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER (MARIE GABRIEL AUGUST FLORENT, Comte de) Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce, 2 vol. in 3., FIRST EDITION, third issue of volume 1, 3 engraved titles, engraved portrait of the author by M.F. Dien after Boilly, 2 folding engraved maps, 285 plates, maps and plans on 167 leaves, engraved head- and tail-pieces, letterpress table, without the half-titles, short tears in margins of pp.449-456 and fore-margin of plate 68 in volume 2 but generally very clean, nineteenth century green half morocco over marbled boards [Atabey 241; Blackmer 342; Cohen-de Ricci, p.238], folio (515 x 320mm.), Paris, J.J. Blaise, 1782-1822
|An exceptionally fresh copy of this "sumptuous work" (Atabey). Choiseul-Gouffier travelled to Greece in 1776 as a member of a scientific expedition to the Levant commanded by the marquis de Chabert. On the appearance of the first volume he was appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1784, remaining there until 1792 during which time he travelled extensively in the region gathering material for the second volume.