Charles PERCIER, Pierre FONTAINE, Claude Louis... Lot 127

[Charles PERCIER, Pierre FONTAINE, Claude Louis BERNIER,Léon DUFOURNY], Palais, maisons et autres édifices modernes dessinés à Rome; publiés à Paris, l'an VI de la République française (1798, v. st.)Paris, [Les auteurs], chez Ducamps, de l'imprimerie de Baudoin, [1801]. 1 vol. in-folio: one delivery cover preserved, 1f. blank, 8p., 100 pl. grav. on 99 f. (pl. 12 and 13 on the same leaf - pl. 1, 31 and 80 in duplicate), 3- 40 p. With full margins, some foxing, notably in the last pages of text. Bound in modern lemon half-chagrin. This copy is enhanced by a rare delivery cover, the work having been given away in 16 deliveries. The book presents a collection of engravings based on drawings by the two future architects of Emperor Napoleon I, during their stay in Rome at the Villa Medici. The book was reprinted until the 1840s, and Fontaine, a sort of Talleyrand of architecture, retained the confidence of the kings who succeeded the Empire.