[CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER (Gabriel-Auguste de). Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce. Paris, J. J. Blaise, 1782-1822. 3 volumes, large folio, half red morocco, smooth spine decorated with gilt and cold motifs, untrimmed (contemporary binding). First edition of one of the most beautiful books devoted to Greece, complete with the three volumes published in the space of forty years. A masterpiece of copper engraving, the work is decorated with a portrait of the author engraved by Dien after Boilly, two double-page maps of ancient and modern Greece, 283 engravings printed on 168 plates outside the text, some of which are double-page, and handsome title vignettes, headbands and tailpieces. The plates, engraved with great finesse after drawings by Choiseul-Gouffier, Hilair and Moreau, consist mainly of views, maps and plans, but also of types, costumes, picturesque scenes, plans, sections and architectural details. The Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier made his first trip to Greece in 1776, aboard the frigate L'Atalante, commanded by the Marquis de Chabert. Appointed ambassador to Constantinople from 1784 to 1791, he was able to repeat his expeditions and discover Turkey. Publication of the work, interrupted by the Revolution, was resumed in installments from 1809. The third volume, compiled by two academicians, Barbié du Bocage and Lettrone, after Choiseul-Gouffier's death, contains a biographical note by M. Dacier. The first volume is in its first printing, with the preliminary speech in favour of the independence of Greece, in 16 pp. It was replaced in most copies by a more neutral preface in 12 pp. An untrimmed copy, with fine margins, in uniform contemporary bindings, produced when the last volume was published. Minor spotting and wear to bindings, minor gnawing to edges of boards, two jaws split, body of book partially detached in vol. I, some foxing and small halos in text and on some engravings. Millard, n°51 - Cohen, 238 - Blackmer, n°342 - Brunet, I, 1847.