Picturesque Tour of the Seine From Paris to the Sea
London: R. Ackermann, 1821. Item #03367
The Finest Illustrated Journey Along the Seine - One of Ackermann's Great Deluxe Travel Books
One of Only Fifty Atlas (Large-Paper) Copies
With Superb Brilliant Impressions Greatly Superior to the Ordinary Issue
SAUVAN, Jean-Baptiste-Balthazar. Picturesque Tour of the Seine, From Paris to the Sea. With Particulars Historical and Descriptive… Illustrated with Twenty-Four Highly Finished and Coloured Engravings, from Drawings made by A. Pugin and J. Gendall; and accompanied by a Map. London: R. Ackermann, 1821.
First edition. One of only fifty Atlas (large-paper) copies.
Large folio (16 3/4 x 13 inches; 425 x 330 mm.). viii, [ii, contents and list of plates], 177, [1, blank] pp. Hand-colored vignette title and tailpiece, beautifully hand-colored folding map, and twenty-four magnificent hand-colored aquatint plates engraved by Daniel Havell after Augustus Pugin and John Gendall. Text and plates watermarked 1820.
Bound by Rivière for Hatchards, ca. 1940, in three-quarter dark green morocco over green cloth boards, spine with five raised bands decoratively lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut, dark green endpapers.
A magnificent, exceptionally fresh Atlas copy, with broad margins, brilliant contemporary hand-coloring, and all six original publisher's wrappers preserved at the end.
Among the most beautiful of all Ackermann's illustrated travel books, Picturesque Tour of the Seine records the celebrated river from Paris to the English Channel through a sequence of magnificent aquatints that rank among the finest achievements of the English color-plate tradition. Conceived at the height of the Romantic movement, the work combines the refined architectural draughtsmanship of Augustus Pugin with the picturesque sensibility of John Gendall, while Daniel Havell's superb aquatints translate their drawings into images of remarkable delicacy, atmosphere, and brilliance.
Beginning in the heart of Paris and following the Seine through Saint-Cloud, Saint-Germain, Rouen, Caudebec, Honfleur, and numerous other historic towns, the plates capture the river as both a great commercial highway and one of Europe's most celebrated landscapes. Medieval churches, royal palaces, ruined abbeys, ancient bridges, bustling quays, wooded riverbanks, and elegant pleasure boats combine to create an uninterrupted visual journey through Normandy at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The views are animated throughout with figures, shipping, market activity, and rural life, lending the work both documentary importance and exceptional pictorial charm.
Issued by Rudolph Ackermann in six monthly parts between January and June 1821, the publication was produced in two distinct forms: 750 ordinary copies and only 50 copies "taken on Atlas Paper." The present volume belongs to this rare deluxe issue, intended for the publisher's most distinguished subscribers. As Tooley observed: "Large-paper copies have remarkably brilliant impressions of the plates and are greatly superior to small-paper copies."
The present example fully justifies that assessment. The impressions are rich and velvety, the hand-coloring exceptionally luminous, and the expansive Atlas margins greatly enhance the visual impact of the plates. Such qualities are immediately apparent in the magnificent views of Paris, Saint-Cloud, Rouen, Poissy, and the river landscapes that have made this one of Ackermann's most admired productions.
An especially desirable feature is the survival of all six original printed publisher's wrappers, here preserved at the end of the volume. These wrappers retain Ackermann's original prospectus, announcing the work as one of the principal illustrated tours of France and emphasizing the scenic and antiquarian attractions of the Seine from Paris to the sea. Their preservation is highly unusual and provides an important record of the book's original mode of publication.
One of the masterpieces of Ackermann's travel publications, the work occupies a distinguished place among the great English color-plate books. Beautifully printed, lavishly illustrated, and extraordinarily rare in the Atlas issue, it remains one of the finest pictorial celebrations of France produced during the golden age of aquatint.
References: Abbey, Travel 90; Tooley 445; Bobins, The Exotic and the Beautiful, II, 548.
Price: $22,500.00