Books and Manuscripts

Sonnini, C.S.
Voyage dans la haute et basse Egypte, fait par ordre de l'ancien gouvernement...
Paris: Chez F. Buisson, (1799). In four volumes. First edition. Three 8vo text volumes and one 4to atlas. Atlas volume illustrated with an engraved portrait of Sonnini, 38 engraved plates, and one large folding map of Egypt, by Tardieu. Text volumes bound in contemporary mottled tan calf, red and green morocco spine labels, stamped in gilt, lightly worn; all edges trimmed; blue paste paper endpapers. Atlas volume bound in quarter brown calf, stamped in gilt, over marbled paper-covered boards, extremities and boards lightly rubbed; all edges trimmed; patterned endpapers; light to moderate foxing to plates. Blackmer 1572; Gay 2250

A handsome set of this travelogue and study of the natural history of Egypt by French naturalist Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt. A valuable early resource on the flora, fauna, and animal life of the region, as well as Egyptian antiquities. Sonnini set out with Baron Francois de Tott in 1777 on an expedition to Egypt, and upon their arrival in Alexandria, Sonnini received orders from Louis XVI to explore the region, where he then proceeded to travel through Turkey, Greece, and Crete, returning to France in 1780.