Napoleon - RAFFET (Auguste). Lithographic albums. Paris, Gihaut Frères, 1830-1837. Eight albums in one oblong folio volume (263 x 368 mm), 104 plates mounted on tabs. Half dark green long-grained morocco with corners, smooth spine decorated in gold and cold, author, title and dates gilt, gilt fillets on covers, gilt head (Yseux Sr de Thierry-Simier). Remarkable complete collection including 8 frontispieces and 96 beautiful plates mostly depicting Napoleon and his men; These lithographic albums, published annually from 1830 to 1837, contain several of the artist's most famous lithographs, including "Ils grognaient et le suivaient toujours", in which the grenadiers of the Guard advance behind the Emperor, tilting their bearskin caps in the pouring rain. Auguste Raffet (1804-1860) was one of the main illustrators of the Napoleonic legend. For Beraldi, he is "one of the greatest names in French art. With him, original printmaking emerged from the insignificance of its subjects, which all too often characterises it, and at last rose to an incomparable theme: the epic of the Republic and the Empire, Napoleon, the French army." Detailing the lithographs in the albums, Beraldi adds, "Raffet is at the height of his talent and his great manner." Freckles, 2 plates browned, wetness in the inner margin of the last 3 albums affecting some lithographs otherwise a good copy perfectly established by Yseux in the Romantic taste. (Beraldi, Les Graveurs du XIXe siècle, XI, pp. 61-149).