Collection des tableaux en gouache et des dessins de Salomon Gessner. Gravés à l’eau forte par Guil. Kolbe. Dédiée à sa Majesté l’Impératrice Douairière de toutes les Russies

Title with engraved portrait-vignette by H. Lips, 1 leaf dedication by Gessner's widow to the empress of Russia, 25 etchings by Carl Wilhelm Kolbe after Gessner. Cont. half calf over marbled sides. Green leather label mounted on front cover. Imperial-folio (574 x 522 mm). Extremeties slightly worn. Foot-cap damaged.


Thieme-B. XXI, 225. Le Blanc 63-87. Martens, Kolbe 282-306. Leemann v. E. p. 84/85. First and only edition. "Nach Gessners Tod wurden von dem wesensverwandten Kupferstecher Kolbe 25 Gouachebilder und getuschte Zeichnungen radiert und gelangten in Lieferungen von 1805-1811 ... in den Handel." (Thieme-B. XXI, p. 225). In 1805 Carl Wilhelm Kolbe was invited to Zurich by the descendants of Salomon Gessner, especially his son Heinrich, to reproduce a series of gouaches by the deceased artist in etchings. The ambitious project featured a total of 25 etchings with an additional title and dedication sheets. In order to comply with the request of the Gessner family, Kolbe sent an application to Prince Franz von Anhalt in which he asked for a one-and-a-half-year vacation. The prince finally granted him the holiday and the assurance that he would be able to return to Dessau, so that Kolbe spent the next three years in Switzerland. Beautiful etchings of garden- and landscape fantasies in classicistic style. Slightly foxed, mostly to the very broad margins else a beautiful copy. Engraved book-plate of Johannes Gessner mounted on front paste-down.