Monumens de l'histoire de France, en estampes et dessins ...

The present 30 volumes seem to have remained with the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, until the ducal library was acquired for sale in 1935 by the dealers Ulrich Hoepli (Milan) and Braus-Riggenbach (Basel). The volumes are not complete, as leaves have been wholly or partly removed throughout; this is particularly evident in preliminary volumes 2 and 10 and volume 75. Prints and the relatively small number of drawings are mostly French, with some German, Dutch and English, and are mostly of the 17th or 18th centuries. They are mounted generally on rectos of leaves, often with hand-written captions. Large prints are occasionally bound in directly; these are often folded. The engraved general title page (bearing the date 1788) appears at the beginning of each volume; below the printed title a hand-written volume number and brief title describing the volume's contents usually appear. In many volumes the title leaf is followed by a hand-written contents leaf listing the section titles, which are also written individually throughout the volume on leaves with etched decorative frames. Sections are numbered continuously throughout the work as a whole. Numbering of the leaves, when present, appears in black ink within each volume at top center recto. Printmakers include B. & J. Audran, Francesco Bartolozzi, Abraham Bosse, Stefano della Bella, Jacques Callot, François Chéreau, Wenceslaus Hollar, Romeyn de Hooghe, Raymond La Fage, Sébastien Le Clerc, Pierre Lepautre, Claude Mellan, Bernard Picart, and Simon Thomassin. There are also early color prints by Gautier-Dagoty and Jean-Baptiste Morret.

Jean-Louis Soulavie began compiling his collection of drawings and prints in 1783 and continued adding to it until 1811, two years prior to his death. Consisting of approximately 20,000 sheets that illustrated the history of France, the sheets were arranged in volumes titled Monumens de l'histoire de France en estampes et en dessins. The French Revolution was represented in 22 volumes and the Napoleon period in 13 volumes. The collection was purchased in 1818 by Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, and it was transported to the palace of the Duke of Leuchtenberg in Munich. A portion of the collection was brought to St. Petersburg by the widow of Beauharnais' second son, while 124 of these volumes were returned to Paris later in the 19th century. Their contents were sold in broken lots in 1903-4, the drawings being bought en bloc by Baron Edmond de Rothschild and presented by his heirs to the Louvre.

Included from Soulavie's collection are: volumes 2, 4, 5, 7 and 10 of the Préliminaires and volumes 4, 5, 7, 36, 47, 48, 51, 53, 55-59, 62-66, 68, 74, 75, 79, 82-84.

Preliminary volume 10 exceptionally consists of material from a single source: ten series of portraits and the "Sommaire des temps" from a total of at least 23 that comprise "Chronologie et sommaire des souverains, pontifes, anciens pères, empereurs, rois, princes, et hommes illustres." There is no general title or imprint, but published in Paris, early 17th century. The work is known as "Chronologie collée" because the engraved portraits and corresponding brief letterpress biographies were intended to be assembled by the reader and pasted on pages pre-printed with decorative borders.

Erasmushaus Katalog 858 (Basel, 1989),

Un collectionneur pendant la Révolution, Jean-Louis Soulavie (Paris : Réunion des Musées nationaux, 1989),

The present 30 volumes seem to have remained with the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, until the ducal library was acquired for sale in 1935 by the dealers Ulrich Hoepli (Milan) and Braus-Riggenbach (Basel). The volumes are not complete, as leaves have been wholly or partly removed throughout; this is particularly evident in preliminary volumes 2 and 10 and volume 75. Prints and the relatively small number of drawings are mostly French, with some German, Dutch and English, and are mostly of the 17th or 18th centuries. They are mounted generally on rectos of leaves, often with hand-written captions. Large prints are occasionally bound in directly; these are often folded. The engraved general title page (bearing the date 1788) appears at the beginning of each volume; below the printed title a hand-written volume number and brief title describing the volume's contents usually appear. In many volumes the title leaf is followed by a hand-written contents leaf listing the section titles, which are also written individually throughout the volume on leaves with etched decorative frames. Sections are numbered continuously throughout the work as a whole. Numbering of the leaves, when present, appears in black ink within each volume at top center recto. Printmakers include B. & J. Audran, Francesco Bartolozzi, Abraham Bosse, Stefano della Bella, Jacques Callot, François Chéreau, Wenceslaus Hollar, Romeyn de Hooghe, Raymond La Fage, Sébastien Le Clerc, Pierre Lepautre, Claude Mellan, Bernard Picart, and Simon Thomassin. There are also early color prints by Gautier-Dagoty and Jean-Baptiste Morret.

Jean-Louis Soulavie began compiling his collection of drawings and prints in 1783 and continued adding to it until 1811, two years prior to his death. Consisting of approximately 20,000 sheets that illustrated the history of France, the sheets were arranged in volumes titled Monumens de l'histoire de France en estampes et en dessins. The French Revolution was represented in 22 volumes and the Napoleon period in 13 volumes. The collection was purchased in 1818 by Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, and it was transported to the palace of the Duke of Leuchtenberg in Munich. A portion of the collection was brought to St. Petersburg by the widow of Beauharnais' second son, while 124 of these volumes were returned to Paris later in the 19th century. Their contents were sold in broken lots in 1903-4, the drawings being bought en bloc by Baron Edmond de Rothschild and presented by his heirs to the Louvre.

Mode of access: Internet.

The French geographer, politician and bibliophile Jean-Louis Soulavie (1752-1813), originally from the town of Largentière in Ardèche, took part in the French Revolution as a member of the Jacobin Club and served as a diplomat in Geneva. His 7-volume publication the Histoire naturelle de la France méridionale (1780-1784), which contributed to the development of geology and geography in France, awarded him a corresponding membership to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. While in Paris, he befriended artists, including the painter Maurice Quentin de La Tour, and he assembled a large collection of historical documents, manuscripts, drawings and prints.

Binding: pink paste paper, back and corners in red morocco. Spines gilt tooled with general title "Histoire de France" and volume number; spines of some volumes include a year relating to events depicted, and occasionally a brief volume title. At upper left corner of front pastedowns is letterpress label of binder: Gueuvin, marchand papetier, rue du-Faubourg-Montmartre, no. 12 ...

Accessioned