Royal 4to (13 x 10 ins) With 29 coloured plates, by Etienne Dinet (1861-1929), with captioned tissue--guards, plus Arabic vignettes as chapter head and tailpiece, by Mohammed Racim. Printed in an edition of 800 copies on vellum pages (of which this is numbered 276) Bound in brown morocco with gilt title lettering to spine, which is slightly faded, and a few light marks to boards. A near-fine copy. Dinet was one of the founders of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes. He became so enchanted with North Africa and its culture that he converted to Islam and learnt to speak Arabic. Dinet's understanding of Arab culture and language set him apart from other orientalist artists and he was able to find nude models in rural Algeria where the rule of the veil was more relaxed. Before 1900, most of his works could be characterised as anecdotal genre scenes but as he became more immersed in Islamic culture he began to paint more religious subjects. NB: AS THIS IS A VERY HEAVY BOOK AN EXTRA SHIPPING CHARGE MAY APPLY