LES EVANGILES DES DIMANCHES ET FETES DE L’ANNEE

Paris: L. Curmer, 1864. 3 volumes in two. First Edition. The plate volume with 413 exquisite chromolithographs of illuminated manuscripts of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, hand-coloured and often burnished in gold, the text volume with hundreds of woodcut engravings, a large photographic plate and 79 tipped in photographs mounted within fine engraved borders. 4to, the plate volume handsomely presented in magnificent full brown morocco signed by Hardy-Mennil, featuring ornate gilt red morocco doublures, fine gauffered edges beautifully gilt in a rich French style, red silk flies and endpapers, the spines with gilt lettering and fine raised bands, the text volume uniformly bound in matching half morocco, both in slipcases. xl, 361, v; xxiii, 154, 255, largely unpaginated. A very fine and beautiful copy of this superb production. CURMER’S MAGNIFICENT PRODUCTION, A MASTERPIECE OF COLOUR CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY. Curmer had photographed the ancient illuminations which where then colored on the spot. From these he produced the fine chromolithographic plates used to produce this work. The subjects range from the Carolinian Period to the Renaissance. The lavish woodcut borders of the text volume are also designed from originals of the same periods. The use of tipped in photographs within these borders was at the time quite novel and remains very effective. There is also a detailed appendix explaining each of the chromolithographs. This work represents the finest of 19th century printing technology and is a classic, if not the best, example of Curmer’s famed process.