Copy enriched with one of the original drawings for the work, with the stamp of the Giacomelli sale (1976).
A genre painter, Hector Giacomelli (1822–1904) specialized in bird painting, producing numerous illustrations for natural history books as well as gouaches, watercolors and paintings on this subject, which was highly fashionable at the end of the nineteenth century.
He worked repeatedly with Gustave Doré, for whom he designed ornamental motifs, and also contributed to Le Monde illustré, Le Magasin pittoresque and L’Illustration. Many bibliophiles entrusted him with copies to illuminate, and he illustrated works by Michelet, Theuriet, Coppée and Musset. Giacomelli was himself a knowledgeable bibliophile: Beraldi praised his collection of nineteenth-century prints, and he was one of the organizers of the print section of the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition.
A fine copy in the publisher’s blue-green boards, issued after the red binding published in 1882. The publisher’s address here is that of Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co, which became Cassell & Co. from 1888 onward.