BINION’S MONUMENTAL EGYPTIAN PLATE BOOK, WITH 72 SUPERB ELEPHANT FOLIO EGYPTIAN PLATES, MANY IN COLOR

(EGYPT) BINION, Samuel Augustus. Ancient Egypt or Mizraïm. Profusely illustrated with fine engravings and colored plates by the best artists, from the works of L’Expedition de l’Egypte, Lepsius, Prisse d’Avennes, &c., &c. New York: Henry G. Allen, (1887). Two volumes. Elephant folio (19-1/2 by 26 inches), modern three-quarter crimson morocco, original gilt title laid down on front covers, raised bands, all edges gilt.    $19,800.

Limited first edition, “Edition de Luxe,” number 193 of only 800 copies, splendidly illustrated with 72 spectacular large folio plates of pyramids, temples, views, the Sphinx, antiquities, mummies, papyri, among other Egyptian subjects, including 50 beautiful tinted and full-color lithographs.

This spectacular production by American Egyptologist Samuel Binion was considered the height of American chromolithography. Most of the huge plates are based on one of four major volumes of Egyptian travel and antiquities from the Napoleonic era through the mid-19th century: David Roberts’ Egypt and the Holy Land, Prisse d’Avennes’ Oriental Album, Lepsius’ Denkmaler aus Agypten und Athiopen, and the Napoleon-commissioned Description de l’Egypte. Of particular beauty are the fully colored architectural reconstructions of Egyptian temples, and a splendid rendition of Cleopatra’s Needle. Mizraïm was originally issued in 12 parts in wrappers; here the parts have been bound together into two volumes, as usually found, each with its own lithographic title page. Blackmer 143.

Closed tear to title page of Volume I skillfully repaired; two unimportant tape repairs to lower margins of text leaves. Tear to lower outer corner of one plate in Volume II, not affecting image, otherwise plates in fine condition, far nicer than often found. A fine copy of this spectacular chromolithographic production.