BOURASSÉ Abbé Jean-Jacques - Lot 390

BOURASSÉ Abbé Jean-Jacques La Touraine: History and Monuments. Tours, Alfred Mame et Cie, 1856. In-folio, brown morocco, spine decorated with boxes featuring flowers, boards decorated with wide gilt lace, gilt edges (Faciot). False title, title, 610 pp, (1) p., 4 h.-t. chromolithographs (including frontispiece), 14 h.-t. steel-engraved figs after Karl Girardet and Français, 1 h.-t. map and 262 wood-engraved vignettes in the text. The most famous and beautiful work devoted to Touraine. This book was unanimously hailed as the typographic and illustrative masterpiece of its century. Presented at the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris, it was awarded the Grand Medal of Honor by the international jury. Brunet I, 1174; Taschereau, 17. Carteret, Le Trésor du bibliophile, III, 103. Pierre Duchemin, L'abbé Bourassé et deux ouvrages monumentaux : La Touraine, histoire et monuments et La Sainte Bible, drawings by Gustave Doré in BSAT, LXX, 2013. Minor damage to binding, including spotting, scattered foxing and some light dampening to paper.