BENOIST (Félix) & LALAISSE (Hippolyte). La Normandie Illustrée. Monuments, sites and costumes of Seine-inférieure, Eure, Calvados, Orne and Manche drawn from life by F. BENOIST... the costumes drawn and lithographed by H. LALAISSE. Nantes, Charpentier Père, Fils et Cie, 1852. 6 parts in 4 volumes, folio (48.5 x 34 cm), half tan basane, decorated smooth spines (period binding). First edition. The first volume contains an introduction (coloured map of Normandy) and the part devoted to the Seine-Inférieure (coloured enhanced frontispiece, 35 plates including 1 detached: General view of Rouen), the second the Eure (coloured frontispiece, 26 plates, including 1 enhanced in red) and the "Caractères, mœurs, costumes" (24 coloured plates of costumes). The third volume contains Calvados (coloured front, 26 plates, including 1 enhanced with red). The fourth volume includes Orne (coloured front cover, 19 plates) and Manche (coloured front cover, 19 plates, the last 2 with restored marginal tears). A total of 1 map, 5 frontispieces and 149 plates hors-texte, as announced in the tables. "The text, the work of Norman writers, is particularly remarkable for the accuracy of its historical research and local descriptions; costumes and monuments are depicted with meticulous fidelity". (Frère, II, p. 343) Slight wear to bindings, minor marginal foxing, otherwise a fine, complete copy. Ex-libris JM on the upper flyleaves. (Brunet, I, 776; Colas, 294; Frère, II, 343)