Lot 283: GARNIER, Charles (1825-98) and Louis-Emile DURANDELLE (1839-1917, photographer). Le nouvel

GARNIER, Charles (1825-98) and Louis-Emile DURANDELLE (1839-1917, photographer). Le nouvel Opéra de Paris. Paris: Ducher et Cie, 1876 [photograph vols.], 1878-81 [text vols.], 1880 [lithograph vol.].

8 volumes in 7, comprising 2 text volumes, 8° (278 x 187mm), 4 volumes of photographs in portfolios, and 2 volumes of lithographs and chromolithographs in one portfolio (635 x 450mm). Text vols.: half-titles, vignette on titles, printer's device on half-title versos and final leaf of first volume. (Very occasional small areas of spotting.) Modern burgundy cloth.

2 volumes of 115 albumen prints on printed mounts, the majority of prints numbered in negatives, contained loose as issued in 4 original gilt-lettered stipple cloth portfolios (rebacked with red cloth, ties renewed, a few repairs). Each volume with letterpress half-title, title and plate list (half-title and title lacking in Sculpture volume.) The parts entitled: Statues décoratives, groupes et bas-reliefs, 35 prints. (Text leaves and about 5 prints lightly spotted, extremities of a few mounts bumped.); Bronzes, 15 prints. (Some light spotting, affecting only about 5 photographs.); Sculpture ornementale, 45 prints. (Lacking half-title and title, tear and scuffmarks in first print repaired, tiny nick in plate 22, scuffmark repaired on print 13, text leaf and several mounts spotted, short tears in a few mounts, dampstain at bottom edge of last two leaves.); Peintures décoratives, plafonds, panneaux, voutes, tympans, 20 prints. (Spotted, affecting very lightly about 6 prints.)

2 volumes in one portfolio of lithographic and chromolithographic plates, half-title printed in red, titles to each part in red and black, half-title to plate list in each volume in red, plate list. Lithographic portrait of Garnier on india paper mounted, signed in facsimile, and 33 plates (of 34, lacking pl. 14), numbered 1-40 (vol. I), of which 5 are double-page, and 40 plates numbered 1-60 (vol. II), of which 20 are chromolithographs; plates by Penel, Sergent, Bordet, Martel, Sellier, Chappuis, Bruck and others after Duchampt, Rebout, Riquois, Bernard, Jasson and others. (Spotted, a few corners creased, one with small tears, occasional short marginal tears.) Modern portfolio.

RARE, FULL SET of the definitive work on the Opera at Paris, 'the most exuberant building of its time' (Dict. of Art, XII, p.156). A relative unknown, Garnier won the competition to build the Opera in 1861 as an expression of the wealth and power of Napoleon III's Second Empire. Construction commenced immediately, employing over 90 painters and sculptors for its lavish decorative programme alone, and it was completed -- under the Third Republic -- in 1875. The celebrated French architectural photographer Durandelle recorded its construction in 'photographs which are a milestone in the use of the medium for extended architectural documentation. They count among the most splendid examples of nineteenth-century architectural photography', (C. Phillips, The Construction of the Paris Opera, exhibition at ICP, NY, 2001). In addition to the 115 albumen prints depicting the decoration, the set comprises a portfolio of 73 lithographic plates of the architecture and backstage mechanics, and two text volumes by Garnier. J. Szarkowski, Photography until now, 1989, p.101. (7)

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