BASCHET (Ludovic). Galerie contemporaine littéraire, artistique. Paris : Ludovic Baschet, 1876-1884. - 13 folio volumes, 344 x 275. Red half-chagrin with corners, gilded fillets, spine ribbed and decorated, gilded head (period binding). Original edition of one of the most important publications illustrated with photography at the end of the 19th century, published in issues from 1876 to 1884 by publisher Ludovic Baschet. Described as "a veritable encyclopedia of all the great men who, in any capacity, have illustrated France" (Paul Lacroix, Revue illustrée, March 1904), this monumental work is presented as a visual and biographical pantheon of the period. Until volume 9, each year is divided into two semesters, each containing two series: Première série : Devacrée aux littérateurs, musiciens, hommes politiques, artistes, etc., Second series: Focused on painters and sculptors, with in-text photographic portraits and out-of-text reproductions of works of art. From volume 10 (1881), the publication was entitled Galerie contemporaine artistique : Peintres & sculpteurs : Nouvelle série. The set includes biographies of 242 leading figures from the political, artistic and literary worlds, including Victor Hugo, Jules Claretie, François Coppée, Sarah Bernhardt, Gounod, Charles Baudelaire, George Sand, Victorien Sardou, Adolphe Thiers, Clémenceau, Gustave Eiffel, Gustave Doré, and many others. These biographies are accompanied by 451 photographs (out of 464), including 241 portraits and 210 reproductions of works of art (out of 223). They have been photoglyphically reproduced from images by the leading photographers of the day, including Nadar, Carjat, Goupil and Mulnier. Only Élie Delaunay has no portrait. There are also handwriting facsimiles and reproductions of works in the text or on full pages. The copy presented here includes all photographic portraits, but is missing 13 photographs of works: Sylvestre and Delacroix (volume 2), Carpeaux and Detaille (volume 3), Ingres (volume 6), Lefebvre (volume 8), Ranvier and two by Diogène Maillart (volume 10), as well as two by Barrias and two by Alfred Lanson (volume 13). Also missing are the second issue on Ingres (vol. 6), the leaf from the first issue devoted to Diogène Maillart (vol. 10), and the second issue on Bellel (vol. 12). Rubbing and spotting to bindings, one corner broken (volume 11). Some scattered foxing. First two endpapers of volume 9 (fifth year) unbound, as well as one leaf and two plates in volume 12 and two leaves in volume 13.