Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Courrier Europeen de L'art et de la Curiosite

Paris: Imprimerie de J. Claye, for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Large 8vo 9" - 10. Very Good exterior, Near Fine interior set in First Edition state, a consecutive run of issues I-XI, of the preeminent 19th-century French art and art history journal, Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Comprised of six physical volumes plus Tome XIII, 2nd Periode, and Tome XIV, 2nd Periode, thus covering, all in, the period 1859-1876. The first six are bound in Imperial octavo hardcover format, 10 3/4" x 8" tall and wide, respectively; blue and black marbled paper over boards, backed in heavy, pebbled cloth to one-quarter. Five raised bands to spines, gilt-titling and numbering in compartments, with three fleurs-de-lis to each spine. Mostly superficial rubbings to and scuffings of spine heads and feet, tips, edges, raised bands, etc., some rubbing to marbled paper, some loss thereof here and there. Text-blocks are very lightly waffled but with signs of neither odor nor moisture. "JCH" stamped at each spine bottom, "JChielland" inscribed with flourishes at second free endpaper of each of the first five volumes. "Axel Widstrand"'s Ex-libris bookplate graces the inside of each front flap, too, most tastefully, he having been a Swedish physician (8/26/1866 - 8/10/1956). Red, white and blue microcellular-patterned endpapers. Plentiful fine black-and-white illustrations, including initials, heads and tails, historiated initials, too, comprising quarter-, half- and full-page steel-engravings by major artists such as Plinxit, Hervey, Laming, Gainsborough and others. Plates inset appear to be lithographs in black-and-white and duotone. Major artists represented, from Goya to Rembrandt, Michel Ange to Delacroix, and including Durer, Goya, Fragonard, Jacquemart, Carpeaux, Puvis de Chavannes, Meissonier, Marilhat, Legros, Goya, Rubens and several score more. Word usage (e.g., "Tome," "Annee," etc.) varies between spine titles, half-titles, and title pages, complicating pagination, and there is some mispagination. Here goes: first volume says "1-2" and "1859" on spine, "Tome Premier" at half-title, with [5], 6-33 [1], 35-391 pp., including Table of Contents, lists of various kinds of illustrations, etc.; "Premiere Annee, Tome Deuxieme," with [3], 6-384 pp., ditto; the second volume says "3-4" and "1859" on spine, and "Tome Troisieme" at half-title: [5], 6-[3], 6-384 pp., and including full lists of article titles, authors and illustrations; "Tome Quatrieme," with [2], 6-384 pp., with similar lists; the third volume says "5-6" and "1860" on spine, and "Tome Cinquieme" at half-title, and with the same [1], 6-384 pp.; "Tome Sixieme" has [5], 6-388 pp.; the fourth volume says "7-8" and "1860" on spine, "Tome Septieme" at half-title, and at [5], 6-384 pp., and then "Tome Huitieme" has [5], 6-392 pp. and including full bibliographies and lists of engravings and etchings for the two tomes; the next volume is "9-10" (1861), "Tome Neuvieme," at [5], 6-384 pp., and "Tome Dixieme" is at [5], 6-384 pp. as well; the sixth volume says "11" and "1861" at spine and the half-title denotes "Tome Onzieme," and is [7], 8-584 pp. in length. This volume has 12 original engravings and 151 reproductions thereof. I see a single orphaned tissue guard, but there does not appear to be a plate missing. Two additional volumes round out the set, both being a bit larger, measuring 11" tall x 8" wide, but having been rebound similarly. No initials are stamped into spine feet, however. The first says Tome XIII, 2nd Periode, but the half-title says Dix-Huitieme Annee--Deuxieme Periode, Tome Treizieme, and features marbled page edges. Dated to 1876. It appears devoted largely to the genius of Michelangelo as an illustrator ("Le Genie de Michel-Angle Dans Le Dessin"). [5], 6-784 pp. and including full Tables of Contents. The final volume says Tome XIV 2nd Periode on spine, "Dix-Huitieme Annee--Deuxieme Periode, Tome Quatorzieme" at half-title, dated to 1876. It refers back at p. 1 to the previous volume. [5], 6-568 pp., also with marbled page edges, same pebbly cloth to tips of both volumes, scuffing to tips and edges, some loss of paper to boards, but similarly tank-like in size and sturdiness and degrees of attractiveness. Else and withal, this is a fine collection of illustrations, including a truly magnificent engraving by Gustave Dore in No. 11 at p. 364 of Dante et Virgile au Tobeau de Farinata, in fold-out, dark and foreboding. As to the fine engravings, the extensive Tables of Contents at volumes' ends separate lists of texts and their pagination from those of gravures. Tiny "s"s appears in margins of Table of Contents of Volume I, II, probably denoting "sans," ditto again in Tome 11, p. 138, a missing plate by Th. Rousseau raising issues of incompleteness; several appear to be missing (not sliced out of text-block, but rather, missing hors-texte), or are present but have been mispaginated; yet others are present but not registered as such. Some illustrations are misnumbered. A Charles-Francois Daubigny engraving of "Soleil Couchant" (p. 294); one of Jean-Leon Gerome, "Tete de la Negresse du Hedjaz" (p. 286); of Charles Mryon, "Passerelle du Pont au Change apres l'Incendie de 1621" (p. 156); of Jean-Francois Millet, "La Bouillie" (p. 266) appear to be M.I.A. The Gazette des Beaux-Arts was founded in 1859 by Edouard Houssaye, with Charles Blanc acting as its first Chief Editor, he having been the Ancien Directeur des Beaux-Arts. The Gazette ran until 2002. It was published mostly monthly, and was headquartered in Paris. All in, this is an uber-scarce run of the inaugural and 13 following issues of an important source of French art and cultural history, handsomely bound. The black-and-white and duotone illustrations are remarkably well preserved. The fold-outs appear not to have been looked at. The fonts used evince a sharp bite into high-quality paper and card stock. The articles represent a then definitive take on European art and artists and art history. The plates and other illustrations provide an uncommonly broad and deep survey of such.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.