LESSEPS (Ferdinand de). Percement de l'Isthme de Suez, expos - Lot 299

LESSEPS (Ferdinand de). Percement de l'Isthme de Suez, exposé et documents officiels. Paris, Henri Plon [then: Aux Bureaux de l'Isthme de Suez], 1855-1860. Five volumes of text and an atlas. - Actes constitutifs de la Compagnie universelle du Canal de Suez. Paris, Henri Plon, 1866. One volume. Together 6 volumes in-8 of text, havana half-calf, ornate spine, black title-pieces, and an atlas in-4 bound in half-chagrin (Period bindings). Gay, n°2455. An exposé of Lesseps' Pharaonic project: the construction of a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. First edition of this work in which Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894) summarizes his maritime canal project and the arguments in favor of its construction: [...] in 1869, the canal, inaugurated by numerous European personalities, including Empress Eugénie, made [Lesseps] the most famous man of his time. [...] Some 160 km long, the Suez Canal shortened the distance between London and Bombay by 8,000 km. The route to India no longer passed exclusively through the Cape of Good Hope (Simone Zoummeroff in En français dans le texte, n°274). The text volumes are adorned with a total of 13 fold-out maps and plans, most in color, including a large fold-out plate showing the longitudinal profile of the Suez Canal. The atlas includes a large topographical map of the Suez Isthmus, 11 fold-out plans and 19 plates of drilling diagrams (numbered 1 to 11 and n°14 to 21, n°12 and 13 not existing). Rare complete set of 6 volumes and atlas. Staining in volume V. Repaired tear to the adhesive of the large atlas map. Rubbing to binding of text volumes, trace of white wax on one of them. Corners of atlas rubbed, spine faded.