12mo. Volume I: 20 pages, xxxi, 119 pages, [1] + 5 pages, [2] / Volume II: 225 pages, [1], frontispiece loose, small cut to top margin of page 129 without any loss / Volume III: 251 pages, + [1] / Volume IV: 282 pages, [1] / Volume V: 231 pages, [1] / Volume VI: 235 pages, 71 of 72 detailed hand coloured full page engraved plates. Contemporary full calf, gilt decorations on spine and covers borders, red labels on spine, marbled end papers, gilt edges, a beautiful set, Nepveu, Paris, first edition, 1812.

Synopsis

A beautiful copy in the original boards, of this celebrated work on Turkish costume and culture, illustrated with hand-coloured stipple-engraved plates of high quality; these include views of towns, monuments, musical instruments, costumes, Ottoman scenes, and many more. Lord Byron, in a letter to Thomas Moore (August 28, 1813), wrote: “If you want any more books, there is Castellan’s Mœurs des Ottomans, the best compendium of the kind I ever met with, in six small tomes.”
Castellan was a noted painter, engraver and architect who, after the French Revolution, embarked on a lengthy tour through the Ottoman Empire; his keen eye and skilled hand made him well-equipped to produce a detailed illustrated record of the sights. Hoefer (IX, col. 92) gives a long description of Castellans’ life and works, with special emphasis on the culture, customs, manners and costumes of the Ottomans. It is interesting to observe that Cox, the standard authority on the literature of travel, failed to include the work in his massive three-volume bibliography on the subject while Hoefer quotes Byron as saying: “Never go to Turkey without having Castellan in your pocket.” An exceptional copy in the rare original boards, and with the plates exquisitely coloured.
From Blackmer: “First Edition, translated into German at Leipzig in 1815 in 3 vols., 8 vo., and into English in 1821, as Turkey in Shoberl’s series “The World in Miniature” (q.v.). Note that some copies have the word ‘eclaircissemens’ on the title spelled ‘eclaircissements’. The plates, coloured aquatints, are mostly reduced versions of Dalvimart’s plates from the “Costumes of Turkey” (q.v.). These depict the costumes of the functionaries of the Ottoman Court; there are also illustrations of arms, standards and other objects as well as an interesting section on music and dance”.
Bibliographic references:Atabey, 204; Colas 1, 545; Querard II, 75; Brunet I, 1226; Blackmer 300; Lipperheide, 1427; Hiler 143. (First edition).