Jules César SAVIGNY - Victor AUDOIN. Birds of the Nile (Egyp - Lot 218

Jules César SAVIGNY - Victor AUDOIN. Birds of the Nile (Egypt and Syria). Système des oiseaux d'Egypte et de la Syrie, one volume of plates. Imprimerie impériale 1809-13 and Imprimerie royale, 1818-28. Jardin de Flore, Paris, 1977. Set of 14 color plates, 76 x 57 cm. And 2 duplicate plates (n°5 and n°13), the second framed, for a total of 16 plates. "This work is one of the ten folio volumes of text and twelve volumes of plates in the first edition of the Description de l'Égypte. Les Oiseaux du Nil is presented in two volumes: one with 14 engraved plates, and the other with ornithological lectures by Messrs. Savigny and Victor Audouin. The birds were drawn and engraved by Messrs. Barrabaud, Bouquet and Henri-Joseph Redouté. This book is an irreplaceable testimony to the brown vultures, eagles of Thebes, black kites, Egyptian owls and houhou concals that flew and still fly over the Nile, but some species of which have unfortunately disappeared today. It is as much for its artistic qualities as for its undeniable ornithological interest that Editions du Jardin de Flore has chosen to republish Oiseaux du Nil, among the many volumes of the gigantic Description de l'Égypte, born of Napoleon's expedition to the country. The color was applied entirely by hand in the Daniel Jacomet workshops in Montrouge, also responsible for printing the engravings. The paper used, a vélin par chiffon from Moulin du Gué, gives the 250 copies of this work the quality of the original edition. By decree of 5 fructidor, year VI (22.8.1798), Bonaparte founded the Institut d'Egypte, bringing together the 51 scientists and artists from various disciplines who had accompanied him on his Egyptian adventure, including Fourier, Monge Berthollet, Andreossy, Girard, Kléber, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Savigny, Jomard and others. The Institute was given a two-fold task: firstly, to propagate European science in Egypt and provide the country with a variety of equipment; secondly, to collect and study, with a view to publication, all documents relating to the history, nature of the soil, fauna and flora of Egypt".