Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 41
MONTULÉ, ÉDOUARD DE. 1792-1828. Recueil des Cartes et des Vues du Voyage en Amerique en Italie et en Égypte fait pendant les Annees 1816, 1817, 1818 et 1819. Paris: Delaunay, 1821.
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$5,000 - US$7,000
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MONTULÉ, ÉDOUARD DE. 1792-1828.
Recueil des Cartes et des Vues du Voyage en Amerique en Italie et en Égypte fait pendant les Annees 1816, 1817, 1818 et 1819. Paris: Delaunay, 1821.
Oblong folio atlas (275 x 370 mm). 59 numbered lithographed plates, including lithographed title within oval cartouche framed by 4 allegorical vignettes depicting America, Italy, Sicily and Egypt, 2 folding maps and 56 plates, 14 by Brocas and the remainder by Montulé,. Contemporary boards, with paper label.
WITH: Voyage to North America and the West Indies in 1817. London: Sir Richard Phillips, 1821. 8vo. 6 plates. Modern wrappers.
WITH: Travels in Egypt during 1818 and 1819. London: Sir Richard Phillips, 1821. 8vo. 12 plates. Modern wrappers.
Rare early lithographic work documenting Montulé's early exploratory voyage to the Mississippi region just after the Louisiana Purchase. The set comprises the important original French atlas of lithographs and the first editions of the English text. Édouard de Montulé appears to have first visited North America at the time of the Revolution. In his account, first printed in French in 1821, he relates, in letter form, a voyage from September 1816 to October 1817, from New York to the West Indies, with stops in St. Thomas, Jamaica, and Santo Domingo, and returning north via New Orleans and the Mississippi to the Ohio river regions and the Hudson valley. "The account is significant because it relates Montulé's experiences during his journey up the Mississippi on board the Vesuvius, which is said to have been the third steamboat to ply the waters of the Mississippi. The boat and its navigation are described in detail. Another distinguishing feature of the narrative is the information it contains about Frenchmen in the United States, especially Napoleonic refugees" (Clark, Travels in the New South, II, 47). The remainder of his account (published separately in the English translation) describes his subsequent travels in Sicily and Egypt. In the preface to the French text Montulé states that he "would have never published these letters without the help of lithography," a new graphic technique whose ease of execution convinced him to share with the public some of the sketches he had made in his travels. A number of Montulé's plates are in fact lithographic "firsts," notably plate 3, the fine view of New York seen from the west, which appears to be the earliest lithographed view of New York City. Other "firsts" are the depiction of the skeleton of a mammoth in the Philadelphia Museum, several views of Philadelphia itself, a group of unidentified Native Americans of the Mississippi region, an "encounter with a rattlesnake on the bank of the Ohio River," and two views of Niagara Falls. The English translations, published in London the same year, are illustrated with reduced engraved reproductions of the lithographs. Brunet III, 1874 (59 plates); Howes M750; Sabin 50229 (51 plates).
Oblong folio atlas (275 x 370 mm). 59 numbered lithographed plates, including lithographed title within oval cartouche framed by 4 allegorical vignettes depicting America, Italy, Sicily and Egypt, 2 folding maps and 56 plates, 14 by Brocas and the remainder by Montulé,. Contemporary boards, with paper label.
WITH: Voyage to North America and the West Indies in 1817. London: Sir Richard Phillips, 1821. 8vo. 6 plates. Modern wrappers.
WITH: Travels in Egypt during 1818 and 1819. London: Sir Richard Phillips, 1821. 8vo. 12 plates. Modern wrappers.
Rare early lithographic work documenting Montulé's early exploratory voyage to the Mississippi region just after the Louisiana Purchase. The set comprises the important original French atlas of lithographs and the first editions of the English text. Édouard de Montulé appears to have first visited North America at the time of the Revolution. In his account, first printed in French in 1821, he relates, in letter form, a voyage from September 1816 to October 1817, from New York to the West Indies, with stops in St. Thomas, Jamaica, and Santo Domingo, and returning north via New Orleans and the Mississippi to the Ohio river regions and the Hudson valley. "The account is significant because it relates Montulé's experiences during his journey up the Mississippi on board the Vesuvius, which is said to have been the third steamboat to ply the waters of the Mississippi. The boat and its navigation are described in detail. Another distinguishing feature of the narrative is the information it contains about Frenchmen in the United States, especially Napoleonic refugees" (Clark, Travels in the New South, II, 47). The remainder of his account (published separately in the English translation) describes his subsequent travels in Sicily and Egypt. In the preface to the French text Montulé states that he "would have never published these letters without the help of lithography," a new graphic technique whose ease of execution convinced him to share with the public some of the sketches he had made in his travels. A number of Montulé's plates are in fact lithographic "firsts," notably plate 3, the fine view of New York seen from the west, which appears to be the earliest lithographed view of New York City. Other "firsts" are the depiction of the skeleton of a mammoth in the Philadelphia Museum, several views of Philadelphia itself, a group of unidentified Native Americans of the Mississippi region, an "encounter with a rattlesnake on the bank of the Ohio River," and two views of Niagara Falls. The English translations, published in London the same year, are illustrated with reduced engraved reproductions of the lithographs. Brunet III, 1874 (59 plates); Howes M750; Sabin 50229 (51 plates).