Description

Large Folio, [3] title page, introduction and index, printed on double pages, verso blank, LXXVIII colour lithographed plates printed on double pages, verso blank, [1] blank, marbled endpapers, original embossed cloth binding with red calf spine and edges, reinforced with original metal nails, gilt embossed medallion on the cover (binding with scuffed corners and old restored spine, endpapers with small tears in the gutter and small loss of paper on the corners, inside in a good condition with minimal staining, some sheets with minor tears and tiny loss of white margins, only library rules pasted on the inner side of the front cover, possibly to cover torn bookotherwise in a good condition).

A rare gigantic atlas with highly decorative colour lithographed maps, charts and plans represents the regulations of the Danube Delta, after the Black Sea was pronounced neutral territory and the Danube opened a connection between the Central Europe and the Black Sea. 

This gigantic atlas with maps, charts and technical plans was made the Commissions of the Danube River to showcase the regulations of the Danube Delta in Romania between 1873 and 1886, including during the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877-1878.

The atlas includes a detailed map of the Danube delta in five sheets, observations of the depths of various Danube canals, the depths of the canals between 1873 and 1886, and the progress with marked water level at the mouth of the canal in those years.

Each colour lithograph map and chart is printed on two pages on a thick paper (verso blank).

The plans to regulate the delta of the Danube river in order to make a direct water route for large ships between the central Europe and the Black Sea was made by the Commissions of the Danube River, which was appointed by the Treaty of Paris in 1856 after the close of the Crimean War.

The project was directed by a famous British civil engineer Sir Charles Augustus Hartley (1825 – 1915), who was also working on the Suez Canal, Odessa Harbor and the Mississippi Delta. 

This atlas, published by the Commissions of the Danube River is a representations of their achievements in the past decade.

The atlas is very rare on the market. We could only find 2 auction records (one of them possibly being our example).