Folio oblong, (400 x 278 mm). 12 lithographed views by Moreau, missing a title present in some copies. Contemporary quarter chagrin over marbled boards, spine flat and simply tooled, slightly rubbed. Minor tears have restored, some light foxing, stabs replaced, overall very good.

“Trata-se do primeiro álbum de gravuras impresso no Brasil e, sem dúvida, caracteriza um marco na evolução técnica em artes gráficas da firma Heaton & Rensburg.” (Pedro Correa do Lago, Brasiliana Itau, p. 308.

Copies vary in quantity of plate:

Two copies are held at UCLA, one, the Oliveira Lima Library copy contains 8 leaves of plates, and the second copy, a more recent acquisition, only 6 plates, but adding the illustrated title page;

The copy held at NYPL is given as 24 plates, however we have not checked this, and is probably a mistake, perhaps it is found with the Steinmann, as the prints are rather similar (we sold a copy like this);

The copy at the National Library of Australia contains only 6 plates, the same as the second copy acquired by the Oliveira Lima library;

University of Sao Paulo, SIBI, 12 plates;

We do not know the collation of the copies held in Brazil from the Geyer collection and now at institutions;

The copy at the collection Itau contains 18 plates, further, the same collection holds another copy with 10 plates;

A copy was offered by rare book dealer Otto Lange in 1908, also containing 12 plates, and another copy in 1962 by Francis Edwards, also containing 12 plates, for 300 GBP, both accompanied with original wrappers, perhaps the same copy.

UCLA gives the following note in their record “Album of plates containing lithographs of cityscapes and popular scenes of Rio de Janeiro by Louis Buvelot and Auguste Moreau. According to the Dicionário brasileiro de artistas plásticos, the plates began to be published singly in 1842, were 18 in number and were brought together and published as an album in 1845.”

Correa do Lago calls it “O mais raro dos albums impressos no Rio de Janeiro, tanto na versão colorida quanto em preto-e-branco”.