GRANDMAISON (H. de). Sketches. Eaux-fortes, heliogravures, lithographs. Without place or date (last quarter of the 19th c.), large 4°, title leaf, 83 plates, contemporary green half-chagrin, gilt title (wear). Factitious collection of 83 plates, with a printed title leaf, most probably composed by the artist himself as suggested by the presence of his bookplate, on the front cover of the binding ("H. de Grandmaison, colonel d'État-Major"). Exceptional set, composed mostly of portraits of soldiers, menus, titles, etc., several of which are dated in the plate: 1874, 1875, 1876..., some in several prints, including the one of the Senegalese Tirailleur. There are very few engravings by this fine artist. Henri de Grandmaison (actually Henri Auguste Babin-Grandmaison) was born in Étampes on September 25, 1834. He was the son of Jean Marie Narcisse Auguste Babin-Grandmaison, a former cavalry captain, who called himself Auguste de Grandmaison. Clément Wingler, director of the Municipal Archives, points out that a judgement of the civil court of Étampes dated 2 May 1876 forbade this family, from the point of view of civil status, to use this usurped particle. Major in the army in 1882, colonel in 1887, Henri de Grandmaison began his artistic career while stationed in North Africa in the 1860s. His first works were published by Cadart and the Société des Aqua-fortistes, which published some of the most beautiful engravings of the 1860s. Around 1870, Henri de Grandmaison turned away from etching and started experimenting with lithography, which remained in his favour until the end of his life. His most beautiful works are mostly scenes of military life. These masterly portraits give an idea of the best of his lithographic production. He collaborated in several works as an illustrator.