LABORDE (Alexandre de). Voyage pittoresque et historique de l'Espagne. Paris, Pierre Didot l'aîné, 1806-1820. 4 parts in 2 full volumes, green half-basin, spine decorated with gilt fillets and roulettes, black title and appendix, speckled edges (period binding). First edition of "the most sumptuous, complete and accurate work on Spain ever published" (Milliard). Alexandre de Laborde, an artist himself, surrounded himself with a team of twenty-one artists, including Jacques Moulinier and François Ligier, assisted by thirty Parisian engravers to produce the book's abundant illustrations. It includes a title-frontispiece by Malbeste and Du Parc after Percier, 2 maps and 272 plates containing 349 engraved views of the main sites and monuments. This famous voyage undertaken by the archaeologist and politician Alexandre de Laborde (1773-1842) between 1796 and 1806, when he accompanied Lucien Bonaparte on his embassy to Charles IV, is one of the most complete early descriptions of Spain. Napoleon's invasion in 1808, followed by serious financial problems and finally the fall of the Empire postponed the end of the project until 1820. The first manageable version was published in 1809 under the title Itinéraire descriptif de l'Espagne, in 5 in-8 volumes and an atlas. Laborde also published a Voyage pittoresque en Autriche (1821-1822), a Description des nouveaux jardins de France, Les Monuments de la France, and Versailles ancien et moderne, commissioned by Louis-Philippe. A fine copy, despite minor binding defects. As is often the case, the engraved portrait by Fosseyeux has not been included. Monglond, VII, 244 - BAL, V, 3961 - Millard, I, 83 - Katalog Berlin, n°2769 - Palau, n°128975.