obelisk. Jules ARNOUS (1803-1865) general. L.A.S. and origin - Lot 381

Lot n° 381
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600 - 800 EUR
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Result : 791EUR
obelisk. Jules ARNOUS (1803-1865) general. L.A.S. and origin - Lot 381
obelisk. Jules ARNOUS (1803-1865) general. L.A.S. and original pen-and-ink drawing enclosed, Paris October 26, 1836, to his father Eugène Arnous, in Nantes; 3 1/2 pages in-4, address and 1 oblong page in-8. Account of the erection of the Luxor obelisk on the Place de la Concorde, the day before this letter. The maneuver was executed "by the arms of our gunners and under the direction of Mr. Lebas [...] It succeeded perfectly!" Some Englishmen had bet on failure; "Mr Lebas had these days his pockets full of unanimous letters which announced to him the most serious accidents, the malevolence even went so far as to make cut a rope [...]. In spite of all these prognostications Mr. Lebas began his operations yesterday at 11:½ a.m. in the presence of more than 100 thousand spectators, and at 3:¼ a.m. the obelisk bore entirely on its pedestal."... Arnous makes a drawing of the obelisk being lifted, with the ramp, masts, cable system, pulleys, each element being designated by a letter, and comments in detail on the maneuver in his letter with cross-references to the letters... "Mr. Lebas had a moment of serious concern half an hour after the maneuver began, when the head of the obelisk was about 3 meters from the bottom, the acroterion lifted a little at the front, on the side of the roller, we stopped and propped it up, but on resuming the maneuver the acroterion resumed its first position, and applied itself to the cornice, where it is well maintained by the weight of the monolith. Coins and medals were placed in a void in the middle of the acroterion"...
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