Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 160 22 May 2021
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Trésor Volume on Medals of the French Revolution
Lenormant, Charles, Paul Delaroche and Henriquel Dupont. TRÉSOR DE NUMISMATIQUE ET DE GLYPTIQUE, OU RECUEIL GÉNÉRAL DE MÉDAILLES, MONNAIES, PIERRES GRAVÉES, BAS-RELIEFS, ETC., TANT ANCIENS QUE MODERNES, LES PLUS INTÉRESSANS SOUS LE RAPPORT DE L'ART ET DE L'HISTOIRE, GRAVÉ PAR LES PROCÉDÉS DE M. ACHILLE COLLAS. [Volume XVII]: MÉDAILLES DE LA RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE, DEPUIS L'OUVERTURE DES ÉTATS-GÉNÉRAUX (5 MAI 1789) JUSQU'A LA PROCLAMATION DE L'EMPIRE (18 MAI 1804). A Paris: Chez Rittner et Goupil, 1836. First edition. Folio [46 by 31 cm], somewhat later black half morocco; spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt. (4), 132 pages; 96 exceptionally fine plates produced using the medal ruling machine technique, with tissue guards, depicting medals and jetons. Binding rubbed and a bit worn, but sound; text leaves with the usual foxing; plates more lightly foxed. Pages untrimmed. Very good or better. The French Revolution volume, from the extraordinary 20-volume Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique, the outstanding 19th-century contribution to medallic and glyptic art. David Block discussed this work in the Summer 1985 issue of The Asylum: "The great illustrated catalogs of Napoleonic medals are part of Charles Lenormant's Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique... The volume containing medals of the French revolution first appeared in 1836, followed several years later by a volume covering the First Empire ... the editors published for the first time many medals from imperial times." The text in this volume was written by George-Julien Fellmann, under the general editorship of Lenormant. The massive, extensively illustrated Trésor has never been approached in concept or scope. The plates utilized a new process, perfected in France by Achille Collas. They were engraved with a pantographic ruling machine and, in addition to being of great visual appeal, the illustrations were the most accurate ever achieved. This technical innovation, widely heralded at the time, was, within a few decades, overtaken by photographic printing processes and is relatively little known today. Clain-Stefanelli 14551*. Engel et Serrure 3973. Grierson 255: "Bon recueil de planches et bon texte descriptif. Classé essentiellement par pays et très utile pour les séries françaises, surtout pour la Révolution française et pour Napoléon." Ex Hon. Arthur Dillon, with his armorial bookplate; ex Richard E. Margolis Library.
Lenormant, Charles, Paul Delaroche and Henriquel Dupont. TRÉSOR DE NUMISMATIQUE ET DE GLYPTIQUE, OU RECUEIL GÉNÉRAL DE MÉDAILLES, MONNAIES, PIERRES GRAVÉES, BAS-RELIEFS, ETC., TANT ANCIENS QUE MODERNES, LES PLUS INTÉRESSANS SOUS LE RAPPORT DE L'ART ET DE L'HISTOIRE, GRAVÉ PAR LES PROCÉDÉS DE M. ACHILLE COLLAS. [Volume XVII]: MÉDAILLES DE LA RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE, DEPUIS L'OUVERTURE DES ÉTATS-GÉNÉRAUX (5 MAI 1789) JUSQU'A LA PROCLAMATION DE L'EMPIRE (18 MAI 1804). A Paris: Chez Rittner et Goupil, 1836. First edition. Folio [46 by 31 cm], somewhat later black half morocco; spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt. (4), 132 pages; 96 exceptionally fine plates produced using the medal ruling machine technique, with tissue guards, depicting medals and jetons. Binding rubbed and a bit worn, but sound; text leaves with the usual foxing; plates more lightly foxed. Pages untrimmed. Very good or better. The French Revolution volume, from the extraordinary 20-volume Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique, the outstanding 19th-century contribution to medallic and glyptic art. David Block discussed this work in the Summer 1985 issue of The Asylum: "The great illustrated catalogs of Napoleonic medals are part of Charles Lenormant's Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique... The volume containing medals of the French revolution first appeared in 1836, followed several years later by a volume covering the First Empire ... the editors published for the first time many medals from imperial times." The text in this volume was written by George-Julien Fellmann, under the general editorship of Lenormant. The massive, extensively illustrated Trésor has never been approached in concept or scope. The plates utilized a new process, perfected in France by Achille Collas. They were engraved with a pantographic ruling machine and, in addition to being of great visual appeal, the illustrations were the most accurate ever achieved. This technical innovation, widely heralded at the time, was, within a few decades, overtaken by photographic printing processes and is relatively little known today. Clain-Stefanelli 14551*. Engel et Serrure 3973. Grierson 255: "Bon recueil de planches et bon texte descriptif. Classé essentiellement par pays et très utile pour les séries françaises, surtout pour la Révolution française et pour Napoléon." Ex Hon. Arthur Dillon, with his armorial bookplate; ex Richard E. Margolis Library.