Saint-Non [Jean Claude Richard De], “Voyage pittoresque ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile”, Paris, Avec Approbation, et Privilege du Roi, 1781-1786.

Folio. First Edition. COMPLETE 4vols in 5, including all the nearly 400 plates and maps engraved by Claude-Augustin Duflos, Le Roy, Prévost, Saint-Non and others after Fragonard, Jean-Pierre-Louis- Laurent Houel, Hubert Robert and Saint-Non. Numerous head & tail engr. ornaments, with the Greek vase tailpieces hand-coloured.

Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non was a French clergyman, engraver and painter. Exiled from France, he extensively traveled in Italy between 1759 and 1761, first releasing his drawings of the monuments of Rome and later (after 1777) the current monumental work on Magna Graecia. The texts, prepared by Saint-Non and based also on sources information from other travel works, are followed by nearly 500 finely engraved plates prepared by a team of prominent artists (engravers, draughtsmen and painters), creating one of the monuments of French 18th century book-production (Travelogues, Vigopoulou I.). “It was the first work of its type to appear in France and it created a vogue for the ‘voyage pittoresque’” (Blackmer).

The present copy is one of the early issues with plates 54, 85, 86, 87 & 88 in volume III marked as 24,  11, 12, 24 bis & 13. It contains the scarce plate of priapic bronzes in volume II.

Contemporary calf, decorations in gilt & all edges gilt. External wear with heavy rubbing, losses of covers edges and joints partly split but still firm. Just occasional spotting and damp-staining inside with the majority of the plates clean and in fine condition.

Blackmer 1473, Brunet V 55-56.