Only edition of a collection of letters written by Edouard de Montulé, Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal de la Légion d'Honneur (1792-1828), during a voyage to America, Italy, Sicily and Egypt. The collection consists of 24 letters about America, where he visited the Golf of Mexico and described its climate and vegetation. He studied the Mississippi and the culture of tobacco, sugar, cotton and wheat, Ohio and the Niagara Falls. In Italy, to which 19 letters are devoted, he visited Florence, Rome, Naples, the Vesuvius and Pompeii. Subsequently, Sicily and Malta (13 letters) were visited. The remaining 21 letters are devoted to Egypt, in which he discusses amongst others Alexandria, the Nile, the pyramids and Egypt's climate. In the same year, an English translation was published, but that translation only consisted of the part on America. The atlas has 59 plates drawn by Montulé: no. 1: title; no. 2: folding map of the East coast of America including Cuba and other Caribbean islands; nos. 3-19: plates of New York, St. Thomas, S. Dominique, New Orleans, the Mississippi area, Ohio, the Niagara Falls, a mammoth skeleton, and constume plates; nos. 20-35: plates on Italy: Livorno, Rome, Tivoli, Naples, Polpeii, Paestum, Sicily and Malta; no. 36: folding map of Egypt; nos. 37-59: plates on Egypt: Cairo, the Pyramids, Karnae, Luxor, Thebe, Etfou and Phile; no. 59: the harbour of Marseille. His drawings are especially interesting for their accurate and precise details showing parts of America, Italy, and Egypt not often visited at the time.
With a manuscript owner's inscription on the title pages of the text volumes ("L.E(?). D'asfeld"). The text volumes are very slightly foxed throughout, the atlas volume is foxed throughout, the plates remain uncut, with some folding lines in the title plate, a large tear in the bottom margin of plate 20 (not affecting the illustration), and a small tear in the bottom margin of plate 23. Otherwise in good condition. Chadenat, 1173; Leclerc, 1034; Sabin 50229; not in Atabey; Blackmer.