Lot 434: ROUX, JOSEPH (1725--1793).

RECUEIL [ SIC ] DES PRINCIPAUX PLANS, DES PORTS ET RADES DE LA MER MEDITERRANÉE ESTRAITS. MARSEILLE: J. ROUX, 1764

RECUEIL [SIC] DES PRINCIPAUX PLANS, DES PORTS ET RADES DE LA MER MEDITERRANÉE ESTRAITS. MARSEILLE: J. ROUX, 1764

first edition, oblong 4to (165 x 235mm.), engraved title by Laurent, 67 full-page engraved plans as called for by index (see note), contemporary mottled calf, small puncture mark in upper right corner of all leaves, binding rebacked and repaired, edges worn

PROVENANCE

Panos Gratsos, book label, sale in these rooms, 27 September 1990, lot 383, £420, Nico Israel

LITERATURE

this edition not in Blackmer, Phillips, Atlases or NMM

NOTE

This appears to be an early version of the first edition of Roux's Receuil, complete according to the index. Later issues, such as the following lot, contain up to 121 plans.

"The works of Roux and those derived from him have always fascinated and pleased me. I don't know why, but perhaps it is because my copy of the second extended edition [see next lot] is such a dear little book; or perhaps because, although by a Frenchman, they were so extensively used by the British Navy during the sixty years of their life" (Wardington Catalogue).