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Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage Grèce. 3 Bde./3 vols. (Choiseul-Gouffier, M. G. A. F. de). Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce. Tl. 1 u. 2/I-II (alles) in 3 Bdn. Paris, J. J. Blaise, 1782-1822. Gr.-fol. (55:36 cm). Mit 3 gest. Titeln mit Vign., 1 Porträt-Kupfer, 168 (9 doppelblattgr. bzw. gefalt.) Kupfertafeln mit 285 Kupf., 2 gefalt. Kupferkarten, 21 Textvignetten u. 1 gefalt. Stammtafel. 4 Bll., XII, 204 S.; 3 Bll., 346 S.; 1 Bl., S. 347-518, XII S. Hldr. d. Zt., leicht berieben, Ecken u. Kapitale bestoßen, Gelenke gebrochen oder angebrochen. Blackmer 342; Lipperheide Kc 2; Hiler 166; Cohen-R. 238. - Erste Ausgabe, Bd. 1 im dritten Druck (Vorrede neugesetzt, endet "O utinam"). Prachtvolle Reisebeschreibung, nach dem Tod des Autors im Jahre 1817 wurde der zweite Teil des zweiten Bandes von Barbié du Bocage beendet. "The plates in this important work are mostly after drawings by Hilaire, whom Boppe regards as the artist who most clearly understood and penetrated the life of the Levant. An interesting feature of this work is the series of costume plates at the end of vol. II, these are after drawings by Moreau" (Blackmer). Unter den Tafeln sind neben den bekannten Darstellungen zahlreicher bekannter Altertümer und archäologischer Funde auch 24 Karten sowie zahlreiche Ansichten von Städten und Ortschaften, meist mit reizvoller figürlicher Staffage, darunter Coroni, Kos, Naxos, Pathmos, Rhodos, Scio u. a. Teil 2/II behandelt hauptsächlich Konstantinopel und Umgebung, dabei drei große Gesamt- sowie zahlreiche kleinere Detailansichten. Von besonderem Reiz sind auch die 21 großangelegten spätbarocken Textvignetten. - Unbeschnittenes, breitrandiges Exemplar. Meist stockfleckig u. leicht gebräunt. Das Portr. mit kurzem Einriß. First edition, 3 vols, part 1 in third issue. With 3 engraved titles, engraved portrait, 168 large plates after Hilaire and Moreau, 2 folding maps, 21 engraved vignettes and 1 folding genealogical table. - Uncut. Foxing and slight browning throughout, small tear to engr. portrait. Contemp. half-calf, somewhat worn, hinges cracked, but firm. Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier (27 September 1752, Paris - 20 June 1817, Aix-la-Chapelle) was a member of the Académie Française and the Choiseul-Gouffier family, French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1784 until the fall of the French monarchy and a scholar of ancient Greece. Right from his studies at the collège d'Harcourt, he had a passion for antiquities. He was particularly marked by frequent meetings with Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, author of Voyage d'Anarcharsis, who he met at the home of his cousin the duc de Choiseul. Another friend was Talleyrand, with whom he participated in court intrigues and by whom he was dissuaded from taking up the religious life. In 1776, he left for Greece on board the frigate Atalante, commanded by Joseph Bernard de Chabert, marquis of Chabert, who was interested in astronomy. With painters and architects in tow, Choiseul-Gouffier thus visited the south Peloponnese, the Cyclades and other Aegean islands, then moved on to Asia Minor. The journey had also had a political goal - explaining the situation in the Aegean between the Ottoman Empire and Imperial Russia. On his return he published the first volume of his Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce, which was a great success and facilitated his intellectual and political career. He became a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1782, then a member of the Académie française in 1783. He was ambassador to Constantinople from 1784 to 1791, taking advantage of this chance to discover Greece. In Constantinople he gathered about him a semi-formal academy where gentlemen engaged in recording the beauties and treasures of the city gathered. Choiseul-Gouffier visited Athens, where he coveted the Parthenon's metopes, obtained a firman, as Elgin did later, to remove antiquities from the Acropolis, and sent to France a part of the Parthenon frieze which was two metres lo. Seller Inventory # 9183
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