ADELINE (Jules). Copies of the parchments of the Livre des fontaines by Jacques Le Lieur (1525). 2nd half of the 19th century]. Broadside (64 x 49 cm) of 31 plates in ff. in red half cloth jacket with corners (laces missing). Beautiful set of 3 plates including a title page model for the work Rouen au XVIe siècle, based on decorations and lettering from the original manuscript, a painted reproduction in colour of the original case for the Livre des fontaines, a second title page model in colour based on a leaf from the manuscript and a reproduction of Le Lieur's coat of arms and 28 pencil tracings mounted on strong paper showing the courses of the Gaalor, Carville and Yonville fountains based on the original parchments. The large view of Rouen in 1525 is not reproduced here. In 1519, Jacques LE LIEUR (c. 1480, c. 1550), an alderman of the city of Rouen, was commissioned to study the city's water system and had maps made of each of the city's three main water supplies. The result is an illuminated work accompanied by 3 strips of parchment, each several metres long. As well as showing the course of the canals, these include faithful representations of the city's monuments and public buildings. The quality and historical interest of these parchments make them among the most important in Rouen's archives. A Rouen draughtsman, engraver and historian, Jules ADELINE (1845-1909) devoted much of his work to Old Rouen. President of the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen (1890-1891), in 1892 he published Rouen in the 16th century based on the manuscript by Jacques Le Lieur (1525), twenty etchings with text (Rouen, Lestringant). A very fine copy of one of the jewels in Rouen's archives. (Frère, II, p. 200 on Le Lieur)