Sale 2527 - Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books, December 17, 2019

429 c   (VUES d’OPTIQUE.) Group of 19 hand-colored die-cut engraved vues. 13x19 inches or smaller; most printed captions excised or obscured with gouache, paste-paper or added laid paper borders. Paris, late eighteenth century [700/1,000] Cut-out areas of each print are backed with thinner paper and painted in watercolors (in once instance patched with silk) to allow for a more realistic and enchanting scene to behold when viewed through a mirrored and back-lit optical device. Fruit on trees, plaza fountains, gas lamps, ship’s flags and every tiny window of the architecture illuminate against the main engraved scenery of the prints - it’s clear an artist or showman with an unusually high level of craftsmanship had a hand in creating this particular group of prints. E N D O F S A L E