Visconti, Ennius Quirinus. ICONOGRAPHIE GRECQUE OU RECUEIL DES PORTRAITS AUTHENTIQUES DES EMPEREURS, ROIS, ET HOMMES ILLUSTRES DE L’ANTIQUITÉ. Paris: de l’Imprimerie de P. Didot l’Ainé, 1811. Three text volumes [folio plate atlas not present]. 4to, original matching red straight-grained quarter morocco with marbled boards; spines ruled, lettered and decorated in gilt; marbled endpapers. (6), 322 + (4), 374, (2) + (4), 334, (2) pages. Minimal spotting; occasional institutional blind- and ink-stamps, but no spine markings; bindings extremities somewhat worn. Very good or better. An attractive set of the text volumes of the first quarto edition of this classic work, whose magnificent folio presentation edition began to appear in 1808. The author, Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751–1818), was an internationally recognized classical scholar and draughtsman. He served as Director of the Musée Napoleon, and conceived the imperial project of a classified iconography of the ancient world—a monumental lexicon of classical antiquity. Visconti died in 1818, and the final Roman volumes were prepared under Chevalier Antoine Mongez (1747–1835). The project as originally conceived was never completed, but the published volumes remain impressive. While the plate atlas is unfortunately not present, the text alone is noteworthy. Babelon 130: “E. Quirino Visconti and A. Mongez ... drew on numismatics as a source for their glorious work on the iconography of the ancients.” Cicognara 2717 & 3917. Ex Michigan State Normal College Library, with their stamps.