Carle Vernet - La Grande Armée de 1812 – 24 planches insérées - 1959

CARLE VERNET
THE GREAT ARMY OF 1812
First edition.
Raoul and Jean Brunon Collection
Author: Carle Vernet (1758–1836)
Publisher: Marseille, Raoul and Jean Brunon, 1959
Printing of plates by: Les Ateliers d’impression d’art André Chotel, Paris
Text printing: SOPIC, Marseille
Bindings and stitching by: Maison Adine, Paris
Description
Beautiful edition devoted to the work of Carle Vernet, a painter and draftsman renowned for his military, equestrian, and uniformographic representations. The Great Army of 1812 gathers plates in color illustrating the uniforms, weapons and the various components of the Napoleonic armies, accompanied by explanatory and historical texts.
The copy presented corresponds to the first edition, published by the Raoul and Jean Brunon Collection, in Marseille. The richly colored plates feature, in particular, generals, carabiniers, mounted gendarmes, hussars, geographic engineers, and different infantry corps.
Format: 28.5 × 39 cm.
Composition: a portfolio comprising 4 notebooks each consisting of an introduction of 4 pages, 6 plates and text. They correspond to the first, second, third and fourth series.
Presentation: each notebook is kept under a pocket with flaps at the end of an embossed cloth binding; the whole is gathered in a large portfolio with flaps and closing ties.
Portfolio: full red faux leather, decorated with gold imperial arms, with gilded frame of motifs.
Weight: approximately 2,150 g.
Provenance
A tipped-in label on the portfolio bearing the inscription:
« The Aspirants CL. IV.EO inf Lausanne 1963 — At Cap. EMG M.-H. Montfort ».
This inscription testifies to provenance tied to a Swiss military milieu.
Condition
Portfolio showing darkened coloration and slightly dulled gilding. One corner is dented. The plates show slight browning of the paper and some marks or signs of use visible in the photographs.
The photographs are an integral part of the description and allow precise appreciation of the condition of this copy.