1822-1826 Description de l’Égypte. État Moderne, Planches, Tome I & II, with additional Histoire Naturelle plates
DESCRIPTION
One of the most celebrated illustrated works of the 19th century, the Description de l’Égypte was produced from the scientific expedition that accompanied the Egyptian campaign of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1798 and 1801.
Alongside the army traveled a corps of engineers, architects, artists, and naturalists who were charged with documenting the country in its entirety. Their drawings and measurements were later assembled into this monumental publication, an ambitious visual survey of Egypt’s landscapes, cities, monuments, people, and natural world. The present volume is a large composite atlas containing the complete plates of État Moderne, Tome I and Tome II, together with additional plates from the Histoire Naturelle section, all issued in the Charles-Louis-Fleury Panckoucke edition published in Paris, 1822-1826.
Cities, Landscapes, and Architecture
The plates of État Moderne, Tome I begin with Egypt as a geographical and urban landscape. Plans and maps establish the arrangement of Cairo and its surrounding districts, while engraved views depict towns, river settlements, and the broader Nile environment. The volume then turns to architecture, presenting mosques, tomb complexes, gates, courtyards, domes, and structural details rendered with the precision of measured surveys. These plates were produced by architects and engineers attached to the expedition and provide one of the earliest systematic records of the architecture of Ottoman-era Egypt, capturing Cairo and other cities before the transformations of later modernization.
Interwoven with these architectural studies are plates devoted to the technologies and trades that sustained life along the Nile. Irrigation devices, tools, and mechanical equipment illustrate the practical engineering that supported agriculture and urban life, while other plates portray Egyptian costumes and occupations. Figures of merchants, laborers, and water carriers appear alongside depictions of daily activity in streets and markets. Together these engravings present Egypt as a functioning society, documenting the clothing, trades, and working structures that defined its communities at the beginning of the 19th century.
Alexandria and the Material Culture of Egypt
État Moderne, Tome II continues the survey with additional views of Egypt’s cities and landscapes, including extensive representations of Alexandria and its harbor. Fortifications, port structures, and maritime scenes record the strategic and commercial importance of the Mediterranean gateway to the Nile. The latter portion of the volume shifts toward Egyptian material culture, cataloging vessels, furniture, and musical instruments. Rows of ceramic containers, domestic furnishings, and performance instruments are rendered in careful profile, creating a visual inventory of the objects that filled Egyptian homes, workshops, and places of entertainment.
Natural History of the Nile Valley
Following the completion of the État Moderne plates, the volume continues with engravings from the Histoire Naturelle section of the work. These plates examine the flora, fauna, and geological specimens encountered by the expedition’s naturalists. Mammals such as bats are depicted with wings extended to reveal their anatomical structure, while reptiles and other animals appear in equally detailed scientific studies. Botanical plates record plants native to the Nile Valley, and the geological sheets illustrate rock specimens, mineral formations, and fossilized materials collected during the expedition’s surveys.
Historical Significance and Survival
Taken together, the plates form an expansive visual record of Egypt as it was observed by the scholars who accompanied Napoleon’s campaign. Cities, architecture, technology, clothing, objects, animals, plants, and geological formations appear within a single atlas volume, reflecting the expedition’s ambition to document the country in all of its dimensions. The Description de l’Égypte is widely regarded as one of the great publishing achievements of the 19th century and a foundational work in the modern study of Egypt. Because the large engraved plates were frequently removed and sold individually, intact plate volumes have become increasingly difficult to encounter. A composite atlas such as the present example, containing the complete État Moderne plates together with additional natural history engravings, preserves one of the most comprehensive and visually varied portions of the work and stands as a remarkable survival of this monumental publication.
Charles-Louis-Fleury Panckoucke (1780–1844) was a Parisian publisher best known for issuing the second edition of the monumental Description de l’Égypte between 1821 and 1829. He inherited one of France’s leading publishing houses from his father, Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, the publisher of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Under his direction the firm specialized in large scholarly and scientific works, and his edition of the Description de l’Égypte helped make the results of Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition more widely available to scholars and collectors.
CONDITION
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