21.    CHÉREAU, J(acques), (also, later) La Veuve Chéreau.   CAHIER(S) DE DIFFÉRENTES VUES...      Paris: Chéreau, n.d. (ca 1795 -   1812).          A very rare and apparently complete collection of engravings of French garden buildings and fabriques published over a period of at least 12 years during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The various views were issued in 26 different cahiers, forming several related series of varying size, but nearly always incorporating in their titles the words "Cahier De Differentes Vues." Each separate cahier included 4 plates, making a total of 104 plates. The earliest of these presented views nominally identified with a specific garden whose name is included as part of the title printed across the top of the first plate, as in: "1er (2me...) Cahier De Different Vues / Prises au Jardin de Bagatelle Bois de Boulogne." In addition to Bagatelle (2 cahiers) we also find the Chateau de Navarre (3 cahiers), Jardin de Mousseau (later Parc Monceau, 2 cahiers), Parc des Sablons (1 cahier), the Jardin de Tivoly (1 cahier) and Méréville (5 cahiers). (The titles for the first three cahiers for Méréville differ slightly in dropping the word "Différents," while the last two read simply "IVme (Vme...) Cahier du Parc de Méréville.") Another more extended series of twelve cahiers begins with three devoted to the Parc de Betz, but then continues with numbered cahiers showing examples of garden structures from a variety of gardens, a substantial number of which are identified simply as "Tiré d'un jardin particulier," while some others are identified more precisely. Each plate illustrates a single structure. These include pavilions, ruins, temples, huts, belvederes, grottoes, towers, chapels, etc. designed in assorted picturesque styles such as rustic, chinese, turc, gothic, and classical. The engravings are well executed and drawn with careful detail. Like similar works from the period (Le Rouge, Grohmann, Krafft) these sets of engravings were used as pattern books by architects or amateurs planning to build or further embellish a "parc à fabriques." Unlike those better known works, however, Chereau's publications were not sold by subscription or later reissued as a single volume. They were, instead, sold as individual cahiers and published irregularly over more than a decade during a time of great turmoil. The earliest of them bear the name of "J. Chereau" at 257 rue St. Jacques and indicate deposit at the Bibliothèque Nationale. Over the course of time J. Chéreau is succeeded by "La Vve. Chéreau," the address changes to 10 rue St. Jacques, and the depository changes to the "Bibliotheque Imperiale," and then, finally to "la direction générale de l'imprimerie et de la librarie" (an institution established in 1810). The few individual cahiers that survive are usually found bound up, in no particular sequence, as parts of an early recueil factice. We can find no record of another complete set. The most extensive recorded partial set is the one described by Ganay (from his personal collection) and included as part of item #145 in his BIBLIOGRAPHIE DE L'ART DES JARDINS under the title "Recueil de Chéreau, Collection de Décors de Jardins." Ganay's recueil included 20 of the 26 cahiers offered here bound with several other Chéreau cahiers from other series. Incomplete sets are also held by the Canadian Centre for Architecture (17 cahiers), Dumbarton Oaks (12 cahiers), Univ. of Delaware. (6 cahiers), and Univ. of Pennsylvania. (4 cahiers). Apart from a few individual plates at the Bibliothèque des Arts Decoratifs, Ganay appears to have been unable to locate any copies in French libraries, a fact confirmed by the absence of any listings in CCFR. While there is no reference to consult in order to definitively establish completeness, comparison with all the other known sets makes it seem probable that the 26 cahiers offered here represent the complete collection of garden "views" published by Chéreau. Given the method of publication and distribution, the rarity of surviving individual cahiers, and the prolonged period of publication, the appearance of additional complete sets seems unlikely.   Folio (25 x 37.5 cm); 104 engraved plates.   Ganay 145.          Loose in cloth clam-shell case; worm hole in margin of 13 plates; one plate with repaired tear; plates otherwise generally clean and in excellent condition. $7,500.00

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