BORGET, Auguste.
La Chine et let Chinois.
Paris, Goupil & Vibert, 1842. Royal folio (56.3 x 40.2 cm). With lithographed title-page (text), tinted lithographed title-page (illustrated), 2 lithographed dedication leaves, lithographed list of plates, and 32 tinted lithographs on 25 plates by Eugène Ciceri, after drawings by Borget. Protective guardleaves. Contemporary half leather and cloth over boards, the title lettered in gold on the spine. 26 pp. and [5] lithographed leaves and 32 lithographs on 25 plates.
€ 35,000
First edition of this set of thirty-two magnificent views of China after drawings by the notable French artist Auguste Borget (1808-77), a close friend of Honoré de Balzac. Borget travelled through Asia from 1838 to 1840; his perceptive sketches include views in the area of Hong Kong (4), Macao (13), and Canton (12). "The feeling of superiority to the Chinese, so characteristic of accounts from the 1840s, is absent here. The artist observes with a fresh eye" (Lust). Explanations to all views are found in the letterpress text in the form of letters by Borget. A second edition in English was published in the same year under the title "Sketches of China and the Chinese".
Some foxing, as common, especially to text leaves, due to paper stock. Waterstains to the margins of the final eight plates. A detailed list of plates is available on request.
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