Hello,
I am trying to identify an edition of the 'Recueil de cartes géographiques, plans, vues et médailles de l'ancienne Grèce, relatifs au voyage du jeune Anacharsis, précédé d'une analyse critique des cartes', which is in the library of Sir John Soane's Museum, and whose title-page has unhelpfully been excised, leaving an uncommunicative stub following the half-title.
It differs in register and pagination from all the copies of the De Bure (Paris) editions I have been able to examine. After an unsigned half-title leaf and the presumed title-page stub, the register continues (with apologies for poor formatting): a2-4, b-e4. The pagination after the excised title-page is as follows: [3], vi--xxxix, [1] p., IV, 27 pl. (chiefly maps, chiefly folded).
In addition, there is an initial unnumbered folded map, captioned
'Carte de l'ancien continent, pour l'intelligence du Voyage du jeune
Anacharsis 1788', not listed in the 'Table des planches' (leaf a2). The
other plates appear to be poor quality copies of those in the De Bure
editions.
It is in original paper boards with printed spine-label and end papers lined
with sheets having running title 'Guerre d'Amérique' across conjugate
leaves paginated 92 and 85 inside front cover, and 'Traité du salpêtre'
leaves 68 and 77 at end. It may have been purchased from the bookseller Thomas Boone for 4s6d on 9 June 1804, but it is not possible to be certain that the item in the book purchase list in our archive refers to this particular volume.
As a newcomer to rare books librarianship, I will be grateful for any information or suggestions. I have examined copies in the BL and scoured a number of online catalogues without success, as so many do not give the pagination of multi-volume sets, and I am not yet sufficiently familiar with any published bibliographies to know where to start!
Many thanks for any help you can provide,
Stephie Coane
Librarian
Sir John Soane's Museum
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3