LES FRANÇAIS PEINTS PAR EUX-MÊMES, moral encyclopedia of the nineteenth century. - Le Prisme. Paris : L. Curmer, 1840- . - 9 volumes in-8, dark blue half calf, smooth spine decorated, spotted edges (period binding). THE MOST IMPORTANT EDITORIAL ENTERPRISE OF CURMER who for the occasion surrounded himself with a pleiad of authors among the most famous of the time (Balzac, La Bédollière, Couailhac, Soulié, Nodier, Delord, Lavallée, Karr, de Beauvoir, Théophile Gautier, Janin, Briffault, Gozlan, etc.) and the best artists (Gavarni, Daumier, Charlet, Daubigny, Emy, Isabey, Tony Johannot, Pauquet, Monnier, Traviès, Trimolet, Meissonier, etc.). The edition includes five volumes devoted to Parisians, three volumes to the province and a supplementary volume entitled "Le Prisme". The set includes 8 frontispieces, more than 1500 vignettes and 407 hors-texte, engraved on wood after the artists mentioned above, except one engraved on copper after Horace Vernet, representing Napoleon I on horseback (volume 5). There is also a double page map of France at the head of the third volume of the "Province". The plate on page 121 of the seventh volume, representing the Norman headdresses, is well completed with its captioned serpente. Copy of the first edition, with the hors-texte in black, in a beautiful contemporary binding. Small cracks at some hinges. Scattered foxing and a few browned leaves. The false title of the third volume has been bound after the title.