Architectonographie des Théâtres de Paris mis en parallèle entr'eux

FULL DESCRIPTION: Donnet-19th c Theatres

DONNET (Alexis). Architectonographie Des Théâtres De Paris mis en parallèle entr'eux. Recueillis et dessinés à une échelle commune par Alexis Donnet Ingr Géog. et Gravés par J. Orgiazzi, Graveur du Dépôt de la Guerre.
Paris, Orgiazzi, s.d. [c. 1822].
(22 x 27.5 cm). Oblong album only. 25 engraved and numbered plates, including the title. Contemporary smooth sheepskin spine decorated with gilt fillets and dotted interlacing, over paste paper boards, untrimmed, slightly rubbed spine. Plates in fine condition.

Exlibris stamp of the architect Antoine-Marie Chenavard (1787-1883), who renovated the Lyon Opera, Place de la Comédie, 1827-31—perhaps referring to this volume for inspiration.

Architectonographie des Theatres de Paris is a foundational text in architectural history, offering a magnificent panorama of Parisian theaters at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It crucially provides the most comprehensive historical, critical, and technical documentation of 19th-century Parisian theaters, including rare insights into stage construction and configuration. The plates include two scales one, for the floor plans and the other for the interiors, and detailed elevations, transversal cuts, sectional-cuts, interior views, and precise floor plans that occasionally locate the theater’s position with regards to the surrounding streets, constituting a precious ensemble-portrait: most of these buildings having been destroyed or extensively transformed.