Voyage Pittoresque de Constantinople et des Rives du Bosphore.

proof copy

'One of the finest topographical illustrated books ever produced' (Koç). With the plates in scarce proof state before letters and many before numbers.

The magnificent plates include some of the earliest interior views of the Topkapi Palace Harem and other palaces, as well as delineations of the city's skylines, often with members of Ottoman society in the foreground.

Antoine Ignace Melling, who was born at Karlsruhe in 1763 and died in Paris in 1831, studied painting and architecture. At the age of nineteen years he went to the Levant via the Archipelago, staying at Constantinople for several years. There he was introduced to the Sultan's sister by the Danish ambassador. She wished to renovate her palace at Ortakeui, and in 1795 Melling was appointed as architect. Melling was given the freedom of Selim III's palaces, including the Harem, and he produced several drawings of these properties.

After completing a number of building projects for Selim, Melling returned to Paris in about 1803, where, in 1804 he issued a prospectus for the Voyage pittoresque. Publication eventually began in 1809, issuing over a number of years thirteen livraisons, being completed by 1819. The outstanding success of the exhibitions of the paintings on which the Voyage pittoresque was based earned Melling the title of painter to the Empress Josephine.

First edition, proof copy; folio (69 x 58 cm); additional engraved title, engraved frontispiece portrait, 3 double-page maps, 48 double-page etched plate proofs after Melling by Schroeder, Bertaux, Le Rouge, Pillement, Desaux, Dessaulx, Desmaisons, Duparc, Dequevauviller, Nee et al, 18, 20, 22, 35, 36, and 41 with numbers, bookplate to front pastedown, a touch of spotting to margins, plates 45 and 47 more spotted but still attractive; contemporary half morocco, marbled boards, gilt lettering to spine, discreet shelf mark to spine foot, an excellent copy.

Atabey 798-799; Blackmer 1105; Brunet III, 1591; Lipperheide LB 41; Koç (Constantinople) I, 214; Weber 77.