COSTE (Pascal). Modern Monuments of Persia. Paris, A. Morel, 1867. Large folio mounted on tabs, half red long-grained morocco, spine decorated with cold filets, smooth edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this magnificent work on Persian architecture. Illustrated with 56 plates, including 7 double-page plates and 8 chromolithographs, of views, plans, elevations, sections and details of the most beautiful monuments in Isfahan, Kashan, Qom, Tehran, Rey, Soltaniyeh, Qazvin, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Shiraz.... "Probably the single most attractive book on Persia and one of the rarest" (Ghani). The Marseille architect Pascal Coste (1787-1879) was appointed chief engineer of Lower Egypt by Mehemet Ali, where he carried out digging, development and maintenance work on the Nile canals from 1823 to 1827. His Architecture arabe ou monuments du Kaire, published in 1837-1839, led to him being attached to Édouard de Sercey's embassy, which the king sent to the Shah of Persia. In association with the painter Eugène Flandin, he was authorised to visit Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Shiraz, the ruins of Ecbatane, Bisotoun, Taq-e Bostan, Kangavar, Pasargadae and Persepolis, where he made numerous sketches, which he used for his great Voyage en Perse, published in 1843-1854, and these Monuments modernes de la Perse. A very fine copy. Some brown spots. Wilson, 49 - Ghani, 630.