Picturesque and Historical Travels through Spain. / London 1806

Title

Picturesque and Historical Travels through Spain. / London 1806

Description

Title page from "Picturesque and Historical Travels through Spain". Drawn by Charles Percier, engraved by du Pare.

c. 1806

Artist

Percier (1764-1838)

Charles Percier ( 1764- 1838 ) in Paris, was a French architect and interior decorator. In collaboration with his fellow student Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, he worked for Joséphine de Beauharnais and Napoléon Bonaparte. Together, the two master builders were commissioned to remodel and decorate the Malmaison Palace during the Consulate, and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris during the First Empire. Percier belongs to the Empire style, a form of classicism that emerged under Napoleon and of which he is one of the main representatives.

Historical Description

The title page is one of the most important parts of an atlas or book. It appears at the beginning of the book and describes the actual title and the context or subject of the book or atlas. The title page often shows the title of the work, the person or institution responsible for its intellectual content, and the imprint, which includes the name and address of the publisher as well as the date of publication. Further information about the publication is often printed on the back of the title page.The first printed books or incunabula had no title pages: the text simply began on the first page, and the book was often identified by its opening words – the incipit. Maps were usually published in atlases, and atlases were books with titles. Even here, title pages were individual works of art. A publisher emphasized the importance of a book by introducing it with a spectacular entrée.Usually, the images on an atlas title page referred to the subject matter: measuring instruments, mythological, astronomical, religious, scientific, and allegorical references and facts were combined in a composition that represented the pride of scientific and intellectual progress. An atlas title page is often no more than an outstanding artistic and expressive cartouche.