Collection Complete de Soixante Portraits: des Personnages qui ont le plus figuré dans la Revolution Francaise

Rare complete set of 60 portraits of important figures from the French Revolution published in the Directoire era.

Featuring King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, revolutionary leaders Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Charlotte Corday, Napoleon Bonaparte and the revolutionary generals Victor Moreau, Alexandre Berthier, Barthelemy Joubert, Andre Massena, etc.

Each page with portrait, vignette of an important scene in their life, and a short text biography all within a decorative engraved frame.

The portraits (fine mezzotint etchings with stipple engraving on velin paper) were engraved by Charles-Francois-Gabriel Levachez after various artists. The vignettes of historical scenes were designed, drawn and etched by Jean Duplessis Berteaux.

Published by Chez Auber to follow a series of scenes depicting the French Revolution, Tableaux historiques de la Revolution francaise, and a series of scenes from the Italian campaigns, Campagnes d'Italie, by Carle Vernet.

Jean Duplessis-Bertaux or Duplessi-Bertaux (1747-1819) was a French painter, draughtsman, and producer of etchings and burin engravings.

Rebound in tan leather and green cloth boards by Ivries Letham Library (now Kirkden, Angus, Scotland) in 1976. The outer pages, including the original wraps, marbled paper and title page, are damaged and holed by damp. The inner pages, most of the copperplates, are unaffected apart from slight spotting (first and last few plates with heavy foxing). "Portrates [sic] of the French Revolution" in gilt on spine. Book has a musty smell.

An increasingly hard-to-find set of portraits of the French Revolutionary era, despite condition issues.