Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

Volume 1 (of 2) only, folio (495 x 368 mm). 4 part titles; 61 engraved plates (one folding). (Lacking engraved frontispiece, allegorical title, and general title-page, light marginal toning.) Modern red morocco, upper cover with an Egyptian obelisk design inlaid in white calf gilt, without gilt border, spine in 7 compartments with raised bands, top edge gilt, others uncut.

FIRST EDITION. "Norden was a captain in the Danish Navy and had studied drawing and engraving as part of his duties. He had spent nearly three years in Italy studying art when Christian VI of Denmark ordered him to go to Egypt in 1737 on an exploratory mission where he made drawings on the spot. He spent about a year in Egypt and was the first European to penetrate as far as Derr in Nubia and to publish descriptions of any Nubian temples. This important work was the earliest attempt at an elaborate description of Egypt, and its plates are the most significant previous to those of Denon" (Blackmer, describing the first English edition of 1757). Blackmer 1211; Brunet IV, 101.