The Rarely Seen Uncut Sheets of Two 18th Century Entirely Engraved French Works on Chinese Emperors and the Life of Confucius

FAITS MÉMORABLES DES EMPEREURS DE LA CHINE. [bound with] ABRÉGÉ HISTORIQUE DES PRINCIPAUX TRAITS DE LA VIE DE CONFUCIUS.

(CHINA - 18TH CENTURY ILLUSTRATED BOOKS ON). HELMAN, ISIDORE-STANISLAS-HENRI, Illustrator.

(Paris: Chez l'Auteur, [1788], [1788?]). 565 x 400 mm. (22 1/4 x 15 3/4"). 50 leaves. Two separately published works bound in one. FIRST EDITION.

Modern retrospective calf-backed tan paste paper boards, smooth spine profusely gilt with a repeating pattern of grape vines, red morocco label lettered in gilt, vellum tips. ENGRAVED THROUGHOUT, WITH A TOTAL OF 48 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATED PLATES, each accompanied by either one or two plates of engraved text. SHEETS UNCUT AND UNFOLDED, the first work printed only on the recto; the second with three sheets printed on both sides. Reed and Dematté, China on Paper 20, 21; Cohen-de Ricci 479. Edges and lower corners slightly worn, but the binding with only just minor signs of use; free endpaper in front and back with vertical crease, one sheet with an early marginal repair, isolated inconsequential faint spotting, but still AN EXTREMELY FINE COPY, the wide-margined sheets exceptionally fresh and bright, and with strong impressions of the engravings.

This pair of lavishly illustrated fully engraved works, produced by a talented French engraver after earlier Chinese artworks, are here presented in an enormous volume made up of uncut and unfolded sheets. According to Benzit, Parisian engraver and print seller Isidore Stanislas Henri Helman (1743 - ca. 1809), "stands out among the engravers of the end of the 18th century," and his skill is evident in the two works bound together here. The first is a pictorial history of the Chinese emperors, from the earliest mythical rulers to the Northern Song dynasty (960–1126). It is based on the Dijian Tushuo, composed in 1573 to educate the Ming-dynasty Wanli Emperor (1563-1620), who had ascended to the throne at the age of nine. In accordance with its didactic aims, it presents the very best and worst of imperial behavior, and the original handwritten album was published as a block-printed book to great popularity. Two centuries later, the Qing-dynasty Qianlong Emperor (1711-99) commissioned a Western-style edition of the famous work, which was executed by two French artists, the Jesuit painter Jean-Denis Attiret and the engraver Charles-Nicolas Cochin II. The enterprising Helman was able to see the Attiret-Cochin book in the collection of French statesman Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin (1720-92), and, having had great success with a previous reproduction of a Chinese work (Conquêtes de l'Empereur de la Chine, ca. 1783), he created the present reproduction. The second work, the life of Confucius, was also reproduced from plates in Bertin's collection. The source material in this case was the biography of Confucius assembled by the Jesuit Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718-93) as part of his informational series on China meant to educate missionaries. Amiot was a correspondent of Bertin, and had sent him the biography and accompanying album of drawings, which were based on the Shenji tu (Illustrated Traces of the Sage), a popular Confucian work throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. Helman selected 24 scenes from each, creating books that balance serene scenes of mountainous landscapes and temples with dramatic fight scenes and dragons. The quality of the engravings is excellent, with delicate linework creating faint wisps of smoke and subtle shadows. These two works, apparently both published in 1788, were released in several formats. The format here, with the engravings laid out on the recto of large uncut sheets, appears at auction very infrequently: we have been able to trace only two copies of both works in this format since 2004, and neither in such fine condition as the present example. (ST20889)

Price: $12,500.00