La Tunisie: illustree par l’auteur. . . . de [TUNISIA]. VUILLIER, G.[aston Charles] - 1896.

Tours: Alfred Mame et fils, Editeurs, 1896. Folio. 10.5 x 14 in. [8], 288 pp. Colour lithograph frontisp., w/ tissue guard, title in sepia & black, 3 colour litho plates printed on one-sided coated paper (1 w/ original paper flaw at fore-edge margin), all preserving tissue guards, 17 woodcut engraved plates, numerous woodcut engravings, and illustrations from photographs. Quarter simulated white calf over colour chromolithograph boards (edgewear & rubbing, slightly cocked, some soiling & minor fraying & bumping head & foot of spine, minor wear to corners), still VG- sound copy. First edition of the author’s lavishly illustrated travelogue through Tunisia at the end of the 19th Century, filled with firsthand observations, and drawings. He describes the Jewish quarter in Tunis, the city of Carthage, snake charmers, local folk beliefs, as well as local tribes and villages across Tunisia. Vuillier (1845-1915) served during the Franco-Prussian War as an aide-de-camp, chief minister of the Oran prefecture in Algeria, and later studied painting under Emmanuel Lansyer, debuting in 1878 with a series of Provencal and Limousin landscapes. At the same time, his sketches of Algeria had drawn the attention of the publishing gian Edouart Dharton, editor of Le Magasin Pittoresque and Le Tour du Monde, and began publishing illustrated travelogues for them for over 27 years until his death.