Canal du Midi Album. DELON (Eugène). Circa 1870.... Lot 324

[Canal du Midi] [Album]. DELON (Eugène). Circa 1870. In-plano, 14 plates, bottle-green half-chagrin, muted spine and boards (rubs). Album of 14 albumen prints, mounted on cardboard, handwritten caption on cardboard (probably in the photographer's hand), mounted on tabs, under cover. Photographer's drystamp at the foot of each card: "E. Delon. Photographe. Rue Lafayette 20. Toulouse". 1. Bief de partage [240 x 328 mm] ; 2. Mouth of the Canal de Midi in the Garonne [215 x 350 mm] ; 3. large wall of the Lampy reservoir [353 x 250 mm] ; 4. Saint-Férréol reservoir retaining dam [350 x 263 mm] ; 5. Lampy reservoir high wall [343 x 265 mm] ; 6. Malpas underpass [253 x 335 mm] ; 7. water intake in the Aude at Moussoulens [335 x 246 mm] ; 8. Maurouge monument [330 x 220 mm] ; 9. Fresquel canal bridge [335 x 235 mm] ; 10. View of the Carcassonne canal [320 x 258 mm] ; 11. Port of Castelnaudary [250 x 338 mm] ; 12. Fonséranne octotype lock [365 x 258 mm] ; 13. Béziers canal bridge [248 x 345 mm] ; 14. Pont-jumeaux (junction of canal de Midi, canal de Saint-Pierre and canal latéral à la Dordogne) [250 x 350 mm]. The first two plates appear to be unpublished (a print of plate no. 2, "Embouchure du canal de Midi dans la Garonne", is held by the BNF [PH391P]). The others were the subject of publications commissioned by the Ministry of Public Works: 8 were published in: DELON (Eugène), MAYER. Aude, Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse, Ardèche: vues photographiques [Ministère des travaux publics, École nationale des ponts et chaussées] (Paris), 1873 (plates no. 6 to 13); 3 in: DELON (Eugène). Ariège, Haute Garonne, Gers. [Ministère des travaux publics, École nationale des ponts et chaussées] (Paris), 1873 (plates no. 3, 5 and 14); and 7 in: LAGRENE (Henri-Melchior de). Les Travaux publics de la France: Routes et ponts, chemins de fer, rivières et canaux, ports de mer, phares et balises... Tome troisième, Rivières et canaux, eaux des villes, irrigations et assainissement des terres. J. Rothschild (Paris), 1876-1883 (plates 3 to 6 and 12 to 14). Eugène Delon (1823-1894), photographer in Toulouse, was active from 1856 to 1894; a former associate of Molas, he took over the latter's business and moved to 20 rue Louis Napoléon, now rue Lafayette, around 1869, then to 18 rue Louis Napoléon around 1876, and finally to rue Alsace Lorraine in the 1890s. A specialist in photographing Toulouse's heritage, he was responsible for several photographs of the Toulouse Museum, in addition to those commissioned by the Ministry of Public Works. He also worked as a portrait painter and, in quite different fields, as a musician and poet.