Lot 222: WALDECK, Jean Frédéric Maximilien, comte de (1766-1875). Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique

WALDECK, Jean Frédéric Maximilien, comte de (1766-1875). Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan (Amirique Centrale). Pendant les années 1834 et 1836. Paris: Firmin Didot frères for Bellizard Dufour et Co., and J. and W. Boone and Bossange Barthès and Lowell in London, 1838.

Large folio broadsheet (552 x 408 mm). Half-title, errata on verso, title with engraved vignette on india paper mounted. Engraved map, hand-colored in outline, 20 plates and plans, including 6 hand-colored lithographic costume plates, 4 hand-colored lithographic plates of antiquities, 5 uncolored engraved plans and plates on india paper mounted, 2 double-page, 5 hand-colored lithographic plans and measured drawings, one double-page. (Some mostly marginal foxing.) Contemporary half morocco gilt and dark green cloth, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second (light scuffing to spine ends and corners, hinges reinforced).

FIRST EDITION, DELUXE ISSUE, OF THIS IMPORTANT AND RARE WORK GIVING A VIVID ACCOUNT OF WALDECK'S TRAVELS AND RESEARCHES IN THE YUCATAN and illustrated with fine hand-colored lithographs of the inhabitants of the area, as well as excellent presentations of some of the antiquities he brought back with him. The work was issued in two forms, with the plates colored or uncolored. The former, as here, is the de luxe issue and, according to Brunet, cost 100 francs as opposed to 75 for the uncolored issue. Jean Frederick Waldeck was a born adventurer: during his teens he accompanied Levaillant to Southern Africa. He joined Napoleon's army of Italy in 1794 after the siege of Toulon. In 1798 he accompanied the expedition to Egypt, and then changed his mind and took part in an expedition to cross the Dongola desert (he was the only member to survive). In 1820 he set off for Mauritius, then on to Chile and Guatemala, later returning to central America. In Mexico, Waldeck worked as engineer for a silver mining project for a while, and then went on to visit the Toltec and Aztec ruins. In 1826, the government of France granted him pension money of 2000 francs, which allowed Waldeck to continue his studies and fieldwork. He examined the ruins of Palenque, remaining in the area for about two years. Unfortunately, just before embarking for Europe, he had the majority of his research documents and drawings confiscated. Brunet V:1402; Palau 373688; Sabin 100994.

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR