An early numbered livraison “5” of issue 2 of Francois-Anne David’s Museum de Florence series on statues.
Museum de Florence
François-Anne David (1741-1824) was an accomplished engraver for the royal family, serving Monsieur, Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, the brother of Louis XVI.
In 1786, David began publishing inexpensive copies of the engravings made of bas-reliefs, statues, and other objects in the collection of the Duke of Tuscany published originally in two volumes in 1731 under the title Museum Florentinum. Each month David published a livraison (issue). Each livraison included 8 planches (plates) with text descriptions in French, translated and sometimes abridged from the original Latin. As with many projects such as this, David sells the plates monthly with the plan to compile the plates into texts, “volumes,” of one hundred plates each. In his prospectus, David makes clear that lowering the price to make these reproductions available to the broadest audience is one of his goals. The price of each livraison was 6 francs.
Subscribers wishing to purchase first press copies au Bistre-Sanguin-Anglois (red-tinted) could do so at a price of 9 francs per livraison.
Only 25 livraisons au Bistre-Sanguin-Anglois were available each month.
Prospectus
The prospectus runs to four pages and describes the history and significance of the collection of the Duke of Tuscany. The final page provides subscription details as well as an invitation to consider purchasing other books by David (le même auteur). The first bound volume of livraison plates in book form appeared the following year in 1787.
Apollon Invictus (Invincible Apollo)
Apollon Invictus au Bistre-Sanguin-Anglois, Plate 10 (Statues) from the livraison at the top of the article .
We will continue to examine different publishing projects of this kind from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Théodore Géricault turned to printmaking in earnest while in England from 1820. Price and quality mattered to consumers, as did portability. We will examine these and other questions connected to manufacturing and selling prints in subsequent issues.