"Livre concernant les endroits les plus remarquables du chateau royale de Terrevure, et de son plan général relevé en perspective; le tout dessiné sur les lieux [...]".

Obl. 4to: title, 21 pl., China ink and grey lavish (fold. pl. with paper reinforcement on back, occ. sm. stains mainly marg.).

Contemp. brown morocco, large gilt dentelle with gilt coat of arms in the corners on boards, gilt-orn. spine with raised bands and red title label, a.e.g. (some sm. scratches). Nice condition.

Outstanding original album (ed. in facsimile from our copy, Brussels, KBR, 1987) by the hand of F.-N. Sparr de Benstorf (1696-1774), draftsman to Duke Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine. Born in Pont-à-Mousson under the name Benstorf, he became in 1717 a clerk to the treasurer of the "Hôtel du duc de Lorraine", then moved to the service of Charles-Alexandre, the Duke's second son, as a draftsman. He followed the Lorraine family to Vienna, taking the name “Benstorf, comte de Sparr” or “Sparr de Benstorf”. Sparr was sent to draw the banks of the Danube and produced a famous atlas, the "Donauatlas" (1751). After several years in the Habsburg Empire, he followed Charles-Alexandre, who had become governor of the Austrian Netherlands, to Brussels where he was appointed librarian in 1750. During this period, he designed Tervuren Castle, residence of the governors, where Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine undertook major renovations. His album includes 1 title in ornamented frame, 1 panoramic view (fold.) of the estate, and 20 views (1 on double page and 2 watercoloured) of the castle and the park. The first 13 drawings, with ms. captions, show the royal estate of Tervuren as it looked in 1753. The last 8 drawings, without captions, show the development projects planned by the Duke, all of which were completed.
The binding is one of the most characteristic of the Duke's known bindings, with its four large rosettes composed with crowned Lorraine crosses and flowers. According to C. Sorgeloos, this binding could be attributed to the workshop of the Brussels bookbinder Caesarius La Rocque, who worked for the Duke between 1750 and 1760.
Ref. Jacobs, A. & Lemaire, C., "Introduction" [to the fac-simile ed., Brussels, 1987] (leaflet joined). - Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine, gouverneur général des Pays-Bas autrichiens. Europalia 1987, IV-7 (our copy, notice by C. Sorgeloos). - Sorgeloos, C. - "Quelques relieurs bruxellois du XVIIIe siècle", in: Le livre & l'estampe. XXXII/125, 1986, pp. 81-83.
Prov. Duke Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine (1712-1780), Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (supralibros). - Library stamps.