Souvenirs de la fête donnée le 26 septembre 1848 par le Cercle artistique et littéraire sous le patronage du roi, du gouvernement et de la ville de Bruxelles. Aux artistes exposants et aux membres du congrès agricole. Dessinés et lithographiés par MM. Billoin, Fourmois, Huart, Lauters, Stroobant, Schubert, W. Le Roy, et publiés sous la direction de M. Balat, archictecte.

Large folio (text ff. - in disorder - and dedication ff. bound at the end, 2 captioned tissue guards missing, some pl. bound upside down; spotted).

Contemp. half red shagreen, blind orn. red cloth on covers, gilt orn. spine with raised bands (rubbed and used).

Commemorative album depicting the 1848 festival of the Brussels "Cercle Artistique et Littéraire" (founded in 1847). With the title printed in gold, 2 dedication leaves and 16 sepia-toned lithographs (occasionally with additional hand-colouring) by Huart after Lauters and Stroobant. Also illustrated with a number of in-text woodcuts. The festival, visited by more than 5000 people, took place in the covered market "la Madeleine", that was designed by Cluysenaer and for the occasion decorated in a Moorish style by Balat who later became Leopold II's architect. The plates show a lottery, a general view of the ballroom, the floral design competition, the "Galerie des fontaines", and a gallery of paintings and allegories created for free by the main artists of the time in exchange for the huge publicity covering the event.
Ref. De Bodt - Bruxelles colonie d'artistes. Brux., Crédit Communal, 1996, p. 69 et sq. - Hymans - Bruxelles à travers les âges. [Ca. 1890], III: 272-273. - Van der Marck 169.