An extremely rare title. The plates with fine contemporary hand-colouring are in exceptionally fresh condition and represent the river Rhine from its source at Mount Badus to its mouth at Katwijk.

The artists and editors Johann Heinrich Bleuler and his son Louis Bleuler undertook this study of the Rhine region as its popularity had grown as a tourist destination after the Napoleonic wars. They launched a subscription for the book in 1827 which proved to be a success and explains how they could achieve such a high quality for its publication. By 1830 the number of subscribers had grown to such a number that Bleuler had to consign more artists to work on the project.

Alois Schreiber, one of the predecessors of Karl Baedeker was enlisted to provide the text thanks to his in-depth knowledge of the region. He had already published a series of guidebooks and understood the landscapes and history of the river which had become a national and political symbol. Its landscapes and history attracted and fascinated musicians, artists and writers alike. The work was issued in 20 parts comprised of four plates, each with an engraved illustrative explanation or key to the views, all present here.

First edition, oblong folio (30 x 43 cm); engraved title with vignette, 80 hand-coloured aquatint plates by Falkeisen, Hürlimann, Hegi, Bebi, Salathé, Hausheer, Weber, Himely and Martens after J. Bleuler, J. Schmidt, J. Meyer and Egidius Federle, many heightened with gum arabic, includes a plate not called for and unnumbered titled 'Vue de la chute du Rhin et du château de Laufen' after plate 40, interspersed with 20 leaves of engraved part-titles with keys to the plates, i.e. keys to four plates per part title; original publisher's half brown morocco, over brown pebble-grained cloth, covers bordered with gilt rules with large gilt corner-pieces, title gilt lettered to upper cover 'Les Vues les Plus Pittoresques des Bords du Rhin', spine richly gilt, with marbled paper slipcase, a.e.g., a fine copy.