Lot 118: CAILLIAUD, Frédéric (1787-1869). Voyage à Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc . Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1823-1827.

CAILLIAUD, Frédéric (1787-1869). Voyage à Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1823-1827.

6 volumes in 5, comprising 4 vols text 8° (202 x 125mm), and 2 vols in one atlas 2° (500 x 340mm). With half-titles. 15 engraved plates in the text vols, and 150 lithographic plates and engraved maps on 149 leaves in the atlas. (Spotting in the atlas vol.) Contemporary grey polished calf by Ph. Selenka with his ticket, sides panelled in blind and with a wide gilt frame, marbled edges (flaking of surface and some discoloration on atlas vol.).

FIRST EDITION. 'Still today an inestimable source' (Bardeschi). Cailliaud visited the oasis of Siwah and Jupiter Ammon and accompanied Ismail Pasha's military expedition to Nubia, where he explored the ruins of Meroe, with its remarkable two hundred pyramids. The plates, which include the first detailed map of Nubia, show views of various settlements, the ruins at Assour, Nouri, Mont Barkal and elsewhere, the waterfalls at Absyr, various oases including that at El Qasr, a number of maps charting the course of the Nile, and the plants, insects and birds of the region. The title-pages of the atlas volumes are both dated 1823. Bardeschi, Nubia Bibliography up to 2000, p.11; Blackmer 270; RIBA 521; Brunet I, 1465; Stafleu and Cowan 945. (5)

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