Voyage dans la péninsule arabique du Sinaï et l’Égypte moyenne. Histoire, géographie, épigraphie, [Journey to the Arabian Peninsula, Sinai and Middle Egypt. History, Geography, Epigraphy], by Lottin de Laval. Published by Gide et Cie, Paris, 1859 [additional title page dated 1855-1859]. II volumes complete – the research volume, and the boards volume. French. First Edition.
The Volume of tablets Includes a large map of the Sinai Peninsula (on a double board); 15 lithographic prints of landscapes, figures and sites in the Arabian Peninsula (by French printers Léon Sabatier and Eugène Cicéri, following de Laval paintings); 17 photolithographic printing plates of archeological finds; And 80 prints of ancient Nabataean inscriptions (on 40 plates, some accompanied by small illustrations).
Pierre-Victorien Lottin (1810-1903), a French archaeologist, writer and painter, began his career in the field of art, and was a master friend of the greatest artists of his generation. In the years 1843-1846 he participated in the discovery of the city of Nineveh in the east when he took part in a French delegation to the area. Between 1843-1851 he made three research trips to the Near East on behalf of the French government, during which he created dozens of illustrations, drawings and reports. The volume of prints before us documents his third journey in the years 1850-1851, in which he tried to recreate the route of Bnei Israel in the desert. In order to copy the inscription and illustrations from the tablets he revealed, De Laval developed a new casting technique, named after him and used to this day – Lottinoplastie (pictures of some of the castings that De Laval made during his journey were printed in the book before us).
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Research Volume: [4], 356 pages. Slight tears at margins of title page and first leaves. Stains.
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Boards Volume : [3] leaves + [72] plates and [1] map (double plate). volume 48.5 cm. Leather spine with gilt inscription. Stains on the lithographic plates mainly in the first part of the book. Leather spine, wear in the corners of the cover. Good-moderate condition.
