Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur

JACQUES GRASSET DE SAINT-SAUVEUR (Montreal, 1757-Paris, 1810).
"Merchant of Muria Oranges", 1805.
Engraving on paper.
From the book "Encyclopédie des voyages".
Size: 16 x 11.5 cm; 23.5 x 18 cm (paper); 27 x 22 cm (passpartout).
Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur was a French man of letters, diplomat and draughtsman. Born in Montreal, he came to Paris in 1764 to study with the Jesuits of Sainte-Barbe, and then began to follow the diplomatic career of his father and brother. After working for ten years as vice-consul in the commission under his father, he was vice-consul in Hungary and then in Cairo. He then devoted himself to literature and published, between 1784 and 1812, some twenty works, often illustrated, including : La Belle Captive, ou Histoire véritable du naufrage & de la captivité de Mlle Adeline, comtesse de St-Fargel, âgé de 16 ans, dans une des parties du royaume d'Alger, en 1782, Paris, 1786; Costumes civils de tous les peuples connus (with Sylvain Maréchal), 1784 and following; Tableaux cosmographiques de l'Europe, l'Asie, l'Afrique et l'Amérique, 1787.