VALERIANI, Domenico and Girolamo SEGATO.
Nuova illustrazione istorico-monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Including: Atlante monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto.
Florence, Paolo Fumagalli, 1836-1837 (text) & 1837-1841 (plates). 2 text volumes (8vo) and 2 plates volumes (large folio). With engraved portrait of Segato as frontispiece in the first text volume and the plate volumes with 160 engraved and aquatint plates (7 double-page), including 51 tinted and/or coloured by a contemporary hand; many plates contain multiple illustrations, making 309 illustrations in total. Contemporary green (text vols.) and brown (plates vols.) half morocco. [2], 491, [1 blank], [4]; 788, [6] pp. text
€ 18,000
First edition of a beautiful series of illustrations of Egypt and classical Egyptian monuments, with the accompanying text volumes giving detailed information on each illustration. The illustrations show maps, costumes and views of both ancient and modern Egypt. The scientist and Egyptologist Girolamo Segato (1792-1836) began working on a new description and depiction of Egypt, selecting illustrations from the works of Denon, Grau and Rosellini, and also including his own original drawings. After his premature death his collaborator Domenico Valeriani finished the work and provided the accompanying texts.
The text and plates volumes with marginal foxing throughout, minor except in the preliminary leaves. Otherwise in good condition. The binding slightly rubbed along the extremities, damage to the upper right corner of the first plates volume, resulting in a stain on the front endpapers, and the upper half of the sides on the second plate volume faded, otherwise good and structurally sound. Blackmer, sales catalogue 984 (160 plates); Ibrahim-Hilmy II, p. 301; for Segato: Almagia, "SEGATO, Girolamo" in: Treccani Enciclopedia Italiana (online ed.).
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