ALBUM PALLIERE ESCENAS AMERICANAS REDUCCION DE CUADROS, AQUARELLES, Y BOSQUEJOS.

A very rare album of South American scenes, originally drawn by León Pallière and finely printed as lithographic plates in Buenos Aires by J. Pelvilain. The plates include views and portraits of local inhabitants in Argentina (30), Brazil (2), Uruguay (2), and Chile (2). Pallière, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1823 to French parents, travelled to France as a young child and eventually studied art there under F.E. Picot. He continued his artistic training in South America from 1848 to 1850 and in Europe from 1850 to 1855. He then returned to South America, travelling for the next decade in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Bolivia, and producing the images found in this volume. The views consist primarily of rural scenes, and many of these images portray local inhabitants in a variety of activities. These illustrations and the other images of the native and mestizo population represent a variety of local types and occupations including Indians; rural and urban mestizo laborers; middle and upper class women in a theatre gallery and in church; working men in pulperias; Black men and women at a market in Bahia; gauchos; soldiers (apparently rural conscripts); and even a surveyor in the countryside. A number of the lithographs focus on life in the country - on the plains, in camp, and at home. One such image, of a couple standing outside a straw house, includes a ten-line romantic poem by R. Gutierrez. Though a full album is comprised of fifty-two plates and a titlepage, this album does not appear to be missing anything and was likely bound this way originally. A marvelous album, extremely rare; no copies on OCLC. PALAU 211114. BORBA DE MORAES, p.648. Oblong folio. Contemporary half black morocco and cloth boards, title stamped in gilt on front cover, spine gilt. Head and foot of spine heavily worn and tearing, hinges and corners lightly worn. Contemporary armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Tissue guards with some foxing, but plates generally quite clean. Good plus.…