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

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 (20 by 26-1/2 inches), modern three-quarter red morocco, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, blue morocco spine labels, top boards with blue gilt leather onlays. $12,000.

Limited first edition, “Edition de Luxe,” number 196 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.

Fine condition.