"LESSEPS, FERDINAND. - ""PIERCING THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ"" (PMM 339).
Reference : 52527
(1855)
Paris, Henri Plon, 1855-60. Bound in 5 uniform contemp. hcalf. Gilt spines with gilt lettering. A paperlabel pasted on upper part of spines. Stamp on title-pages. Wear to top of spine on volume four. (4),280,(2)"(6),332XI,376(8),320"(4),423,(8) pp., 1 table, 2 large folded lithographed maps (in vol. one), 4 coloured maps, 2 large folded chromolithographed profiles (Profil en long du Canal Maritime de Suez... 1859). Some faint scattered brownspots.
First edition. In the first volume - 'The Piercing of the Isthmus of Suez' - he set out the whole case for the canal and his proposed method of building it... Construction was begun in 1859 and completed 10 years later.""(PMM, 339).