Ad 1: rare series of engravings of Roman art and architecture after drawings made by the French draughtsman Adam Philippon during his travels in Italy. "Adam Philippon was Jean Le Pautre's teacher, and the present suite was, in part, etched by Le Pautre after his master. It is thus among Le Pautre's earliest work. ... The remains of the present suite was apparently etched by another of Philippon's pupils, Gabriel la Dame ... The number 26 is given by Guilmard as the number of plates for which Le Pautre was responsible, but ... the exact number for which Le Pautre was responsible remains uncertain. ... In 1640 Philippon had been one of a group of artists sent to Rome with Roland Fréart by Louis XIII to try to persuade Nicolas Poussin and other artists to return with them to France. It is probable that the young Le Pautre travelled with him" (BAL).
Ad 2: very rare early impression of a series of 6 plates, each with two designs for friezes, decorated with acanthus scrolls, tritons and other figures, by the most important and imaginative ornament engraver of the 17th century, the famous French architectural designer Jean le Pautre (1618-1682).
With some pencil drawings, owner's notations in ink on the verso of the dedication and a crude copy in red ink of a drawing on the back of the plate facing plate 34. The right corner of the opening flyleaf torn-off and lacking the closing flyleaf. The last plate slightly wrinkled, some minor thumbing throughout and a minor waterstain in the margins of the first and last few leaves, otherwise in good condition. The binding slightly soiled and wrinkled, with a couple minor smudges and tears, but still firm. Ad 1: BAL 2519; Berlin Kat. 312; Guilmard 72; Millard I, no. 98, vol. 1.2; WorldCat (7 copies, with varying number of plates); ad 2: Fuhring, Ornament prints in the Rijksmuseum (953-957; lacking plate 5); cf. BAL 1833.8; Berlin Kat. 313.8.