de Bure (ou Debure)

First edition of the French translation of these two texts by Stephen Hales. The translation of the first work, originally entitled Vegetable Staticks published in 1727, is the first text published by Buffon. The translation of the second work, originally issued under the title Haemastaticks in 1733, is by François Boissier de Sauvages.
Our copy is complete with its 20 engraved figures on 10 folding plates for the first text and its folding plate at the end for the second.
Contemporary full speckled blond sheep, spine in five raised bands richly decorated with gilt compartments, rolls and fleurons, with a havana morocco title label, marbled endpapers, all edges speckled red. Headcap and two corners skilfully restored. A few leaves slightly browned.
Rare French first editions of these two texts by Hales, founder of modern experimental physiology.
The Statique des végétaux describes one hundred and twenty-four experiments on plant physiology. Buffon precedes it with an important “préface du traducteur” in which he praises not only Hales (“Je ne connais rien de mieux dans son genre, et le genre par lui-même est excellent.”) but above all scientific experiment, emblematic of the emergence of modern science: “Amassons-donc toujours des expériences, et éloignons nous, s'il est possible, de tout esprit de système, du moins jusqu'à ce que nous soyons instruits [...] c'est cette méthode que mon auteur a suivie ; c'est celle du grand Newton ; c'est celle que Messieurs de Verulam, Galilée, Boyle, Sthall [Stahl] ont recommandée et embrassée, c'est celle que l'Académie des Sciences s'est fait une loi d'adopter [...]” The plates, executed with great finesse, depict the machines devised (notably his famous water apparatus) and the processes used by Hales to demonstrate the circulation of sap and the production of gases in the plants he studied.
The second treatise, following the research of William Harvey and Marcello Malpighi, deals with blood circulation. It is in this work that Hales recounts his experiment on arterial pressure using one of his inventions, a precursor of the sphygmomanometer.

Edition with some parts in first edition. Second edition expanded by Cardonne, of the first translation by Antoine Galland which had appeared in 1724.
Full marbled and glazed calf binding, smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title-label and volume label. Red edges. 2 corners slightly bumped. Signs of rubbing, notably to headcaps and joints.
These fables of Bidpai (or Pilpai) are extracted from the "Panchatantra" attributed to Pandit Vishnu Sarma, who would have lived in the 3rd century BC. They were translated into Persian and Arabic, and spread throughout the Orient. These are the oldest fables that we know. It is not sufficiently known but this was one of the sources of La Fontaine's Fables, who acknowledges his debt in the preface to his second collection of Fables.

New edition.
Contemporary full navy morocco binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with 3 fleurons. Roulette at head and foot. Fillets on the raised bands. Covers stamped in blind with a central lozenge with interior quatrefoil and second lozenge. Blind-tooled frieze. Triple interior fillet. Gilt edges. Scattered foxing. Small areas on the upper covers of volumes 1 and 2 where the blue has turned blue-green, same on the spines. Very handsome copy.
Volume 1 contains the poetry, volume 2 The Eclogues of Virgil and 2 tragedies, volume 3 the comedies and the Discourses on harmony and comedy.

First edition.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with five raised bands ornately gilt in compartments and fleurons with red morocco title label, gilt fillet on leading edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns. Some rubbing, corners and edges slightly bumped.
Manuscript ownership inscriptions on title page.
Interesting work on medicine for the poor describing numerous natural and economical remedies: hydromel, enemas, poultices, ointments, suppositories... At the head of the work, explanation of some medical terms and alphabetical list of medicines and their prices.
Rare.

First edition. Bailly would publish a sequel in 1779, entitled: Lettres sur l'atlantide de Platon et sur l'ancienne historie de l'Asie. Pour servir de suite aux lettres sur l'origine des sciences.
Contemporary full speckled blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with fillets. Red morocco title label. Tears to joints at head. Rubbing. Paper yellowed. Good copy.
In his Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne, Jean-Sylvain Bailly had established that the origin of sciences and techniques came from the ancient peoples of Asia, which led him into a polemic with Voltaire. There followed an exchange of letters of which this work bears witness. The collection contains Voltaire's responses.

Third augmented edition of this important artistic guide to Paris under Louis XV. A title-frontispiece engraved in colors by J. Robert & 5 plates hors-texte including 2 folding by Choffart, Saint-Aubin. Four of them, signed by Choffard (1730-1809), reproduce the illustrations from the previous edition (1752). These are the Mausoleum of Henri II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, by Jacques Sarazin in the church of Saint-Louis of the Jesuits (today reinstalled in the chapel of the château de Chantilly), the tombs of the painter Charles Le Brun and his mother at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, and Bouchardon's Fountain on rue de Grenelle. A fifth unpublished plate was added for this new edition: engraved by Fessard after Augustin de Saint-Aubin, it represents the Mausoleum of Languet de Gergy by Michel Ange Slodtz at Saint-Sulpice. The first edition contained no engravings.
Full glazed marbled brown calf. Spine with raised bands decorated. Red morocco title label. Upper and lower joints narrowly cracked at foot. Foot of spine and corners restored.
Description of the city of Paris following the division into 20 districts dating from 1701, with the most remarkable monuments, paintings in certain churches, private mansions...

First edition, illustrated with 2 large folding maps, of western Russia and eastern Russia.
Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with raised bands decorated, roulettes at head and foot. Red morocco title label, black wax volume labels. One wormhole along the upper joint at the foot of volume I. Upper joint of volume 3 nibbled for 3 cm. A tear at the foot of volume 2, with a small cut at the headcap. Volume labels rubbed. Corners rubbed. Handsome copy.
Levesque spent 7 years in Saint Petersburg during which he was a professor under the protection of Diderot who allowed him to consult the archives and documents necessary for the completion of his work, which forms the most accomplished history of Russia at the end of the 18th century. The work exercised a decisive influence on the image of Russia in Europe and on Russian historiographers. The accuracy of the facts and the quality of the narrative contributed to making Levesque's Histoire de la Russie a classic work in Russia.
Maccarthy Fitz-John bookplate.

Second edition, illustrated with 31 double-page plates mounted on tabs, including 29 maps and plans (16 folding) of which 11 are heightened in colors; the first edition dating from 1788. XLI pages for the analysis of the maps.
Contemporary green vellum binding. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. 2 corners skillfully restored and small restoration to the first 2 raised bands. Very handsome copy.
Fine atlas which, in addition to the colored map of Greater Greece and its islands, provides maps of the different provinces, the plan of Athens, elevations of the principal monuments (Parthenon, Greek theatre, Greek house...), certain great battles. It was originally conceived to accompany the Voyage du jeune Anacharsis by Abbé Barthélémy, a romantic fantasy of a young philosopher traveling in ancient Greece in the 4th century BC. It was sold separately or with the collection of 5 volumes of the novel.

Fifth and best edition, expanded with the eulogy of M. de Pouilly (lieutenant general of the presidial court of the city of Reims which Levesque de Pouilly endeavored to embellish), by Abbé de Saulx, the text that would be engraved on a fountain erected in his honor, the 2 speeches he delivered in Reims on March 6, 1748 and February 17, 1750 and the description of a monument discovered in the city in 1738. This edition is illustrated with a frontispiece, two folding plates at the end of the work, three title vignettes, and a title headpiece, all designed by De Seve and engraved by J. Robert. This is the finest edition of this text.
Full red straight-grained morocco binding (Russia leather) slightly later. Smooth spine decorated in grotesque style with two different motifs. 2 scratches on lower board. Darker areas on upper board. Some pale scattered foxing. Very handsome copy.
"Esteemed work" according to Brunet, this work takes up the philosophers' theories on feelings. From a science of sentiment, the author strives to derive a morality concerning love and friendship. Interesting edition, as it provides information about the author.

First edition, rare.

Contemporary full speckled blonde sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with roulette at head and tail. Beige morocco title label. Lower board extensively affected by old dampstaining which has whitened and blackened the leather. 4 corners slightly bumped. Good copy with elegant spine.

New edition, rare and posthumous, illustrated with two allegorical frontispieces by Renou and engraved by Robert.
Contemporary full marbled calf bindings. Raised band spines decorated with compartmented onion tools and roulettes, red morocco title labels. One lack at head of volume I and a cut at head of volume II (with slight lack). Upper joint of volume I cracked at head, and upper joint of volume II narrowly cracked at tail. 2 corners bumped. Rubbing. Light offsetting from the engraving on the title page of volume I. Margins foxed on half-title and final leaves. Despite the few defects mentioned, a handsome copy with quality binding.
The Lives of Architects and Sculptors are preceded by the Discourse on Architecture (84p.), and the Discourse on Sculpture (36p.). These biographies are classified by nationality; besides the biographical elements proper, the principal buildings realized and books written are also detailed. We count for Italian architects 17 entries, 2 for the English, only one for the Germans, and 23 for the French. The proportion is equivalent for sculptors. Dezallier D'Argenville had previously given an Abridgment of the Lives of Painters, and wanted to rival this work, which Vasari had undertaken during the Renaissance with his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects.

Second edition, partly in first edition, preferable to the first as it was expanded with two books (and supporting documents) and above all corrected and revised by the author (who complains about the first edition in the preface), and the first Parisian edition, after the original published in Yverdon in 1783.
Bound in full blonde glazed and speckled calf. Smooth spine decorated with 4 tools in compartments. Red morocco title label; round black morocco volume label. Double fillet frame on boards. Handsome copy.
Reflections on England's extraordinary naval power at the end of the 18th century and during its golden eras. The author, after an introduction on the history of maritime powers, traces the detailed history of the navy in England since Julius Caesar's invasion. All periods are studied: Middle Ages, 17th century... The supporting documents are precious. Many pages are naturally devoted to the New World, Francis Drake's battles in South America, the conflicts between English and French for dominance of Hudson Bay, the Seven Years' War and the conquest of Canada.

Fifth and best edition, expanded with the eulogy of M. de Pouilly (lieutenant general of the presidial court of the city of Reims that Levesque de Pouilly endeavored to embellish), by abbé de Saulx, the text to be engraved on a fountain erected in his honor, the 2 speeches he delivered in Reims on March 6, 1748 and February 17, 1750, and the description of a monument discovered in the city in 1738. This edition is illustrated with a frontispiece, two folding plates at the end of the work, three title vignettes, and a title headpiece, all designed by De Seve and engraved by J. Robert. This is the finest edition of this text.
Contemporary full calf binding, marbled and glazed. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Fine copy, very fresh.
"Esteemed work" according to Brunet, this work revisits the theories of philosophers on sentiment. From a science of feeling, the author endeavors to derive a moral philosophy on love and friendship. An interesting edition, as it provides insight into the author.

First edition.
Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with fleurons in compartments. Red morocco title label. Good copy.
Jean Jacques Barthélémy (1716-1795) was first an ecclesiastic before becoming an archaeologist, man of letters and numismatist. Before publishing the famous voyage of Anacharsis, he became known through numerous scholarly researches which he endeavored to make accessible to a broader public, not only in Anacharsis, but also in this work on Greek music, in which an Athenian is found dialoguing with a disciple of Plato. Barthélémy furthermore dwells on the significance of music for the Athenians, drawing directly from the writings of Plato.

First edition.
Contemporary light brown armorial calf. Spine richly gilt with grotesque motifs and hydra figures at foot. Covers with triple gilt fillets and arms to centre. Gilt roulette frame to pastedowns. Marbled edges.
The major work by the abbé de Condillac and one of the key works of French sensualism.
From the library of Emmanuel-Pierre Rodocanachi with his engraved ex libris.

New edition of the French translation.
Half sheep binding in dark green, spine in four compartments decorated with gilt fillets and panels showing minor rubbing at head and foot.
Copy complete with the English, Italian, Spanish and German translations of this text by Coluthus.
Some foxing.

New edition. The first edition appeared in 1744, and its chronology therefore stopped at the date of 1743; this latest edition continues the chronology until 1764; this is followed by tables of popes, writers, great men in the sciences and arts. Each page is surrounded by a double black frame.
Contemporary mottled calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with spider web tools. Brown morocco title-label and volume labels. Head slightly worn. Same for the tail of volume I. Upper joint of volume II split at head and tail.
The work is presented in the form of a chronology. The works of abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy are still considered today as treasures of erudition; he was interested among other fields in literary criticism, philosophy, history and even geography. He was a very skillful compiler. The tables had great success, and numerous editions were made of them.

NB: This work is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.

New edition, expanded with the idea of Civil Justice.
Contemporary full blonde mottled calf binding. Spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and floral motifs, red morocco title and volume labels. All edges red. Some surface wear.
The Code Louis is the name given to the "ordinances on the reformation of civil and criminal justice" of 1666 and 1670, in honor of King Louis XIV. It is the standardization of laws and jurisdictions of the kingdom, whose South was under "Roman" law and the north under customary law. It was developed under the direction of Colbert from 1661. The commentary on this legal revolution is the work of a renowned jurist, Daniel Jousse.

Second edition, revised and corrected.
Full sheep binding with gauffered decoration, spine with five raised bands decorated with dotted and gilt fillets, quadruple gilt fillet frame on boards, decorative gilt board-edges, all edges gilt, gilt fillets on leading edges, traces of rubbing to joints, scattered foxing.
Work illustrated with one folding plate.
Rare.