A very attractive example of the first edition of one of the most celebrated Voyages pittoresques.
Choiseul-Gouffier's masterpiece is the first publication of a travel voyage that is composed mainly of illustrations of places which are complementary to a narrative and descriptive text. This work established the model for later 'Voyages pittoresques' not only in format but also by the employment of different artists. Notable artists used in this work include Saint-Aubin and Moreau le Jeune. Volume 1 contains a discourse on Greek history and the struggle for liberty. Primarily, though, it is an account of the author's travels through Greece and is heavily illustrated with maps, views of natural wonders and classical ruins. The first part of the second volume is a reconstruction of the Troad, that area of the Mediterranean associated with the 'Iliad'. It reflects the author's reduced circumstances and is sparsely illustrated. The second part, published after Choiseul-Gouffier's death by his friends from notes left by him, is a much more luxurious effort, probably as the result of subsidy, and is again heavily illustrated.

First edition, second issue of volume 1, 3 volumes bound in 2, folio (51.5 x 32.4 cm.), half-titles, 3 engraved titles, one portrait, 2 unnumbered double-page general maps and 284 plates and maps on 168 leaves, 8 double-page or folding, elaborate engraved head and tailpieces, one double-page printed table; uniform nineteenth-century blue morocco gilt by Lewis, Tennant arms on covers, gilt edges, repairs to leaves at beginning of vol.1, plate 110 in vol.1 (Tournoi turc) slighty shorter and supplied from another copy, some leaves spotted or browned, Italian bookseller's labels to upper paste-down, a very handsome set.

Atabey 241; Blackmer 342; Cohen-de-Ricci 238; Millard French Books, 51; Brunet, I, 1847; Koç, Constantinople I, 145.