Mallet Allain Manesson, Signed (3 results)

The first volume of the "Description of the Universe" by Allain Manesson Mallet (1630-1706), a French cartographer and engineer; his military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at the court of Louis XIV. Both the original French work (Description de L'Universe, 1683) and this German translation comprise 5 volumes. The first volume provides an introductory summary of the astronomical and meteorological knowledge of the time; this is followed by a description of the lands lying below the North Pole. The volume features an engraved frontispiece with allegorical figures, two full-page portraits (Louis XIV, Mallet) and 111 plates with 111 numbered full-page illustrations (copper engravings): armillary spheres, world maps, models of the universe, star maps (constellations), celestial phenomena, planets, world maps according to old geographers, various maps of regions (especially the Arctic), various ships, various vistas, figures of Samoyeds (Nenets), Greenlanders and indigenous population of Novaya Zemlya. Many astronomical illustrations are accompanied with vistas of ports. Some engravings are signed by Johann Jacob Vogel, an engraver and etcher, active in Frankfurt and Nuremberg. Fraktur typeface; pages are decorated with headpieces and initials. This copy (or edition?) does not contain the author's dedication (4 pages) and preface (4 pages); they were obviously never bound into the volume. Two illustrations are numbered as no. 90 although one of them is identical with what is numbered as no. 80 (Ancient World) in a different 1684 version/edition of this volume; there is no plate no. 84 in this version/edition (it was never bound into the volume); in the different version/edition, this missing illustration (maps of the Mediterranean) is unnumbered. Several plates are slightly smaller and untrimmed along bottom edge. /// Parchment binding with coloured edges; hardback, [2]+138+[10] pp., [3]+111 plates, 8° (16 x 23 cm), parchment cover slightly worn, with spots and ink stains, backstrip with handwritten title and remnants of paper label, edges yellowed and foxed, some pages and plates slightly foxed, especially along fore edge, other signs of wear and age are very rare (tiny chips, tiny ink stain, worn corner etc.; text and engravings not affected), condition: very good Book Language/s: German.

FIRST EDITION. 5 vols. 8vo. (21x12 cm). Full 18th-century mottled calf, spine with raised bands and gilt in compartments, complementary red and green morocco labels, marbled endpapers. 5 engraved additional titles, 2 engraved portraits and 681 engraved plates (668 numbered plates, occasionally mis-numbered, and 12 "additional plates" bound at the end of volumes 2 & 3). Provenance: Gravier (signed in all volumes, dated 1684 in volume 5); ex libris Bibliotheque de Monsieur le Comte Godefroy de Montgrand, with his bookplate to paste-down of each volume. Inner hinges of vols. 4 and 5 strengthened with cloth tape, joints and extremities rubbed with some small partial losses, spine of volume 5 perished, contents toned but generally clean from further blemishes. First edition of this famed geographical guide known for its wealth of accurately delineated maps and views, most after the author, a skilled draughtsman with a background in mathematics and military engineering. In 1668, after serving Alfonso VI in Portugal, Mallet became mathematics master at the French court. His earlier Travaux de Mars (two editions, 1671 and 1684) was a treatise on fortification. Vol. I of the Description outlines the planetary system, vol. II is on Asia, III Africa, IV and first part of V Europe. The last volume is more of a catch-all, also having the 'terres Australes' and 'L'Amérique' as its subject. Volume 5 has dozens of views and maps of the Americas including Canada, Virginia, Florida, Mexico, California, and city views of Quebec and Havana among others. (Brunet, III, 1343), (Sabin, 44130).

4 tomes en 2 vol. in-8 carré de (24)-346-(2) pp., (12)-337 pp., (14)-359-(1) pp., (10)-281-(1) pp., veau havane, dos orné à nerfs, pièce de titre et de tomaison en maroquin rouge (reliure de l'époque). Édition originale. Ouvrage complet des portraits de l'auteur et de Louis XIV en frontispice du tome I et des 493 planches gravées en taille douce attribuées à Sébastien Leclerc. Nombreux tableaux gravés à pleine page.Troisième et dernier ouvrage publié par l?ingénieur militaire et géographe, Allain Manesson Mallet (1630-1706), soldat dans le régiment des gardes de Louis XIV, puis ingénieur et sergent-major d'artillerie au Portugal, il fut nommé maître de mathématiques des pages de la Petite écurie du roi à son retour. Tome I : La Géométrie pratique. Tome II: La Trigonométrie. Tome III : La Planimétrie. Tome V : Paris, ses monuments et ses environs : Cour du grand Châtelet, Montmartre, Bonhommes de Passy, Port Royal, tour de l' horloge du Palais, plan à vol d'oiseau de l'Hôtel-Dieu, palais d'Orléans, la Sorbonne, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, prison Saint-Germain, Louvre, Tuileries, Palais Royal, Hôtel Vendôme en ruines, moulin de la pointe ; chemin de Vaugirard, etc.Provenance : Exemplaire Mareuse (ex-libris) avec notes manuscrites autographes à la fin du tome IV ; ex-libris du XVIIIe siècle Aug. Ludov. de Bötticher.Très bon exemplaire à grandes marges ; les faux-titres des tomes III et IV manquent.Cohen-De Ricci, 674 ; Lacombe, Catalogue, I, 1667: « Premier tirage de cet important ouvrage orné de 493 planches gravées (et non 500 comme il est dit par erreur au titre » ; Mareuse, 11653 ; Dufour, 335 : « Au point de vue de la topographie de Paris et de la banlieue, [cet ouvrage] sera toujours consulté avec fruit, représentant des monuments détruits depuis longtemps, et qui n'ont été reproduits que par Massenon-Malet » ; Pastoureau, Les Atlas français (XVIe-XVIIe siècles), pp. 335-344.