Földvári Books

The First French Work on Brazil with 54 Hand Colored Lithographs

Taunay, Hippolyte; Denis, Ferdinand

Le Brésil, ou, histoire, moeurs, usages et coutumes des habitans de ce royaume; par M. Hippolyte Taunay, Correspondant du Muséum d‘histoire naturelle de Paris, et M. Ferdinand Denis, Membre de l‘Athénée des sciences, lettres et arts de Paris. Ouvrage orné de nombreuses gravures d‘après les dessins faits dans le pays par M. H. Taunay. Tome premier[–sixième].

Paris. Nepveu, Passage des Panoramas, No 26, 1822. First edition. Six volumes, in their first binding: contemporary half leather, spine with raised bands, gilt ornaments and title, panels covered with marbled paper. Illustrated with 54 hand-colored lithographs (many protected with the original tissue paper). Shelfmark vignettes at the head of the spine to each volume. Vol. 1: xvi 236 pp., 10 pls.; Vol. 2: [4] 276 pp., 7 pls.; Vol. 3: [4] 204 pp., 5 pls.; Vol. 4: [4] 299 [1] pp., 18 pls.; Vol. 5: [4] 337 [1] pp., 6 pls.; Vol. 6: [4] 281 [1] pp., 8 pls. Light foxing throughout. A brown stain to the outer margin of vol. 2 between pp. 223–52. Spine of vol. 5 damaged at the head. Otherwise in fine condition.

The first general work on Brazil in French, illustrated with fifty-four hand-colored lithographs.

Written by Hippolyte Taunay (1793–1864) son of the celebrated painter Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, a member of the Missão Artística Francesa came to Rio de Janeiro in 1816. Hippolyte, as an assistant of Georges Cuvier traveled through Rio, Bahia, and Pernambuco to assemble a natural history collection for the great naturalist. While in Sao Paolo, Taunay met Ferdinand Denis (1798–1890) who helped him with his work and became the co-author of the present book. Denis was pursuing a diplomatic career and stayed in Brazil for some two years which dramatically changed his path and eventually he dedicated a large part of his life to the discovery, study, and publication of Portuguese and Spanish manuscripts related to Brazil. Although some sections of the book are gathered from earlier works, a large part was written by Taunay and Denis, as it is described in the preface. Most of the views of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco are by Taunay and the excellent reproduction were made after the works of Jean de Léry (Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre de Brésil, 1578), Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (Reise nach Brasilien, 1820), and John Mawe (Travels in the Interior of Brazil, 1812).

The themes of the illustrations vary from views of cities, buildings, regions and landscapes (Bahia, Pernambuco, Mato Grosso, Rio de Janeiro, Olinda) to ethnological subjects such as portraits, objects, ornaments, and customs, including capturing a jaguar and whale hunting, among many others.

“The six volumes absolutely complete with all the plates are very rare. […]. Some volumes include plates ‘avant la lettre’ and copies exist with contemporary colouring. Most of the plates are folding.” (Borba de Moraes) Our copy is absolutely complete, and one of those with contemporary colouring. The larger illustrations (35) are bound as double-page instead of folding plates, except for one (in vol. 4), and the plates roughly follow the order of what Borba de Moraes suggests.

Scarce in the trade, RBH records the last copy in 1978. Sabin 94416, Borba de Moraes II 846–7.

Price: €50,000.00