8vo. 467 pp., [2], 7 plates of which 1 in colour and 4 folding, contemporary half-calf with marbled boards, lightly rubbed round edges, marbled endpapers, title gilt and decoration, two long handwritten notes pasted between pages 228-229 dated 1836 and 294-295, speckled edges, light foxing throughout, heavier on margins, small tear to plate I without any loss, tear across the fold of plate II without any loss, Arthus Bertrand, Paris, first edition, 1835.

Synopsis

Extremely rare, not at Copac. Raymond-Jean-Baptiste de Verninac Saint-Maur (1794-1873),was a French naval officer who became in 1848 a Minister of the Navy and Colonies,
In 1829 Verninac went to Alexandria to pick up the mission led by Jean-François Champollion, which had completed three years of exploration and studies in the Nile Valley. He took them back to Toulon Luxor Obelisk weighing 230 tons, which had to be transported from Luxor back to France. The Obelisk was given by the Muhammad Ali the governor of Egypt as a gift to France.
Verninac was given command of the expedition on Champollion’s recommendation. With the help of the naval engineer Apollinaire Lebas, Verninac developed the idea of cutting a flat-bottomed barge in half across its center, installing the obelisk, then rebuilding the barge so it could be towed down the Nile and on to France. The obelisk remained on the quay of the Seine for two years before being erected in the Place de la Concorde on 25 October 1836. The story of bringing the Obelisk to France was reorded by Verminac himself in this book.
Bibliographic reference: Hilmy II, 307.