Humboldt, Alexander von, and Aimé Bonpland | One of the most celebrated pictorial records of the Americas

Humboldt, Alexander von, and Aimé Bonpland

Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l'Amérique. Planches. Paris: de l’imprimerie de J.H. Stône chez F. Schoell, 1810 [but 1813]

Folio (555 x 401 mm). 69 engraved, etched, and aquatint plates after sketches by Humboldt, including folding and double-page plates, some printed in colors or hand-colored; intermittent foxing throughout, a few plates with marginal staining. Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, elaborately gilt with wide palmette border and floral spine compartments; joints a little rubbed, a few small scuffs, rebacked retaining original spine.

A fine copy of “the most beautiful and generally interesting of all Humboldt’s works” (Sabin).

Vues des Cordillères was the first major pictorial work to emerge from Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland’s scientific expedition through the Americas (1799–1804). During their extensive trip, the great German scientist and the botanist gathered a mass of material relating to all aspects of the New World; their work in the field and the subsequent publications set a new standard for scientific exploration and reporting. Humboldt and Bonpland set out to investigate the area's geography, natural history, archaeology, and native customs, supplementing their field explorations with extensive research in Europe. The plates document geographical features, archaeological sites, Mesoamerican sculpture, and reproductions of indigenous codices and hieroglyphic manuscripts—including depictions of Chimborazo, Aztec reliefs, and the Codex Borbonicus.

The series of publications resulting from the expedition began in 1805 and continued into the 1830s; the present atlas, published in 1810, was the first major volume to appear. Issued as the illustrative component of the Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, it often appears separately from the text volumes.

REFERENCES:

Field 739; Hill 848; Lipperheide 1630; Palau 117026; Sabin 33754

PROVENANCE:

Edward Alexander Parsons, Bibliotheca Parsoniana, New Orleans (bookplate)