François Buisson

First French edition published simultaneously with the octavo edition (more common), by the same publisher. Illustrated with a folding frontispiece, a large folding map of the Cape and 15 plates, some folding. All plates have been bound at the end of volumes I and II.

Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume labels. Double blind fillet to boards. Lacks to joints at head of volume I. Upper joint narrowly split at head and tail of tome I. In tome II upper joint rubbed. Corners restored with leather strips. At the end of the second volume, some leaves browned, otherwise scattered light foxing. Plate 2 of tome 2 poorly folded. Some plates are erroneously captioned tome 3, which would suggest that the octavo edition preceded the quarto edition, the latter being longer to produce.

First French edition, translated by Parraud. One large folding map and one plate of Rejang, Batta and Lampoon alphabets.
Contemporary full brown speckled sheep binding. Inversion of leaves between p. 354 and 357, also between p. 359 and 361. Smooth spine decorated with 3 stamps and various fillets. Fillets at tail and gilt rules. Brown calf title-label. Joints of volume 1 cracked at head for 1 cm, same for volume 2 at tail. Traces of rubbing, particularly at joints. 3 corners cut. Tailcap of volume 2 worn. Scattered foxing.
This is indisputably the best and most complete work on the subject, the literature of which was then rather poor. Only two other books on Sumatra from the same period can be distinguished, which are much less rich in detail. Among all the productions of the island, pepper grows in abundance, Marsden carefully describes the different species and the manner of cultivating them. Besides the description of Sumatra, provides important information on Celebes, Philippines, Japan, Indonesia. William Marsden spent eight years on the island of Sumatra as an administrator, having followed his brother who was employed by the East India Company.

First edition presented in its original wrappers and under plain orange interim cover.
Title written in pen on a pasted label at head of spine.
One joint split at foot, small marginal lacks to covers.
Memoirs of the very famous tragedienne Hyppolyte de la Tude Clairon (1723-1803), who was venerated by the greatest (Diderot, Voltaire, Louis XV...). The actress was not content merely with her success but contributed to profoundly regenerating French theater. Marmontel was her lover and encouraged her to abandon the declamatory style. The portrait of Mlle Dumesnil, who was long her rival, contains great acrimony. The work is not composed like classical memoirs but rather as a succession of articles and chapters addressing different themes more or less personal, one will find letters, critiques of plays...

First edition, posthumous, on Holland paper.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf binding. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume label. A slight lack to the lower joint at the tail. Signs of rubbing. Scuffing to the upper board with a lack of leather. One corner slightly bumped. Pages 247 and 257, lacking the right corner of the margin. Paper generally fresh. This copy has been bound in a single volume, following the 1772 edition of Diderot's Works in 6 volumes (Volume VI, II). Good copy.
The introductory text, in memory of Diderot, is by Jakob-Heinrich Meister, friend of Necker and successor to Frédéric Melchior Grimm at the Correspondance littéraire.
The novel, conceived from 1765, appeared in serial form in this review from 1778 to 1780. The published version was not, however, definitive, since Diderot constantly expanded it until his death, and the work which, in 1771, counted 125 pages, reached 200 in 1778, 208 in 1780, 287 in 1783. Yet the work, well before its French publication, was already known in Germany thanks to Schiller's translation (in 1787 in his review Thalia). Following this version, Doray de Longrais gave a French version of the same story. In 1792, Germany discovered the complete text thanks to a new translation, that of Mylius. Finally, in 1796 the original text was published in France, from a copy presumably provided by Grimm or Goethe.
An unclassifiable work that freed itself from all novelistic rules, the book draws its plot from the picaresque novel and inherits the freedom of a book that profoundly influenced Diderot: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, by Sterne.

Second edition with some parts in first edition.
Half green Russian morocco bindings, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets and showing traces of rubbing, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.
Some foxing, dampstains and black ink stains on some leaves of volumes 3 and 4, brown stains at the foot of the last leaves of the final volume.

First French edition of the Account of the Capture of His Majesty's Ship Bounty translated by Daniel Lescallier. It is illustrated with 3 maps, including one of the voyage in the launch, one of the islands discovered by Lieutenant Bligh, and one of the coasts of New Holland.
Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding, spine with raised bands decorated with urn tools in lozenges, rolled decoration at foot, red morocco title-label. Some rubbing.
Captain Woodard was held prisoner by the Malays on the island of Celebes for two years and five months; his testimony was collected by Vaughan in England while the captain was making a stopover. Describing his captivity and adventures, he also reports on the food, fauna and flora, customs and practices of the natives. In the appendix, several very remarkable accounts of shipwrecks: loss of the frigate La Pandore, loss of Captain Kenedy's vessel, account of the black hole...
The Account of the Capture of His Majesty's Ship Bounty relates its voyage and the famous mutiny. After a six-month stay in Tahiti and a cargo of breadfruit trees, the revolt broke out on board on April 28, 1789; the captain and 18 of his men were forced into a drifting launch, with only ship's biscuits for food. After 48 days of navigation, this meager crew landed at Timor with all hands. Christian Fletcher, one of the lieutenant's mates, and 24 other men remained on the Bounty. William Bligh attributes this unexpected revolt, according to him, to the life the men found in Tahiti, and the desire to return to a gentle life far from the discipline of an English ship. Cinema would find in this maritime story eloquent symbols to exploit: youth against authority and blind and arbitrary repression, freedom... Christian Fletcher would establish a colony with some of his men on Pitcairn Island (the others having remained in Tahiti); in all likelihood, they killed each other and only one survivor remained.
Handsome copy.

Third and best edition; it is indeed the most complete. Before composing this ensemble, several editions were published: in the first place an Introduction to the history of Dannemarc in 1755, which forms in our copy the first illustrated volume of a large folding map of Scandinavia. Two volumes in 4 will appear a few years later, then a third. The story was then continued until 1720, then until 1773 in this edition.
Full flamed calfskin bindings slightly posterior. Smooth backs decorated with 4 irons and wheels. Title and volume pieces in green calf. Misses in the head of volumes 5 and 7. Friction. 2 blunt corners. Nice copy.
The book is considered the best ancient history of Denmark, it is indeed extensively documented, and contains in addition a study of mythology and the 33 fables of what composes the Edda, as well as other epics. Before the historical narration, the first two volumes are an anthropological approach of Denmark, addressing the specificity of this country as much by its geographical location as by its customs and its mythology. The author lived for a long time in Denmark and was tutor to the reigning prince, at the same time as he was a professor at the Royal College of Copenhagen.

NB: This book is available at the bookstore on request within 48 hours.

Statement of second edition, illustrated with three figures engraved by Tardieu. The first edition appeared in 3 vols. 18mo, the same year.
Full marbled brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red long grain morocco title-label and volume labels. A tear with loss at head of first volume. Rubbing. 2 corners slightly bumped. Headcap of volume II partly worn away.
Collection of light and gallant tales by François de Lantier. Verses he wrote for Madame du Barry earned him a pension from Choiseul and a position in Dresden. He is the author of the voyages d'Anténor. Of his tales, he himself wrote in his preface: "it is better to write fairy tales than political dreams and to have a small clandestine commerce with the Muses, than to bear the burden of public affairs on one's back."
Viollet Le Duc bookplate; from the library of Laurent de Crozet; Laurent de Crozet bookplate. Jules Bobin manuscript ownership inscription. (Interesting provenance chain...)

First edition, written according to Barbier (Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes) by Faur, and according to the BN de France by Faur or Benjamin de Laborde.
Contemporary half blonde sheep bindings. Smooth spine with fillets. Marbled paper boards. Title and volume labels gilt. Stains on spines.
The preface of the work indicates that the Memoirs of Richelieu are less a single biography of Richelieu than memoirs covering the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the Regency and the reign of Louis XV. The present work claims to remedy these memoirs and present the marshal as he truly was "it is the hero in undress that we present to the public". As the title indicates, besides his historical role, the book reveals the relationships that Richelieu maintained with women, "all women disputed over his heart... Loving them all, he claimed to owe them equal homage." The work contains a great number of original letters and private memoirs written by Richelieu, or addressed to Richelieu. A new type of historical work that would have a great future, the book through various perspectives attempts to paint clearly the man that Richelieu was, with his virtues and his vices.
Stamp of Grande bibliothèque école libre N.D. de Mont-Roland on the half-title.

First edition.
Contemporary marbled sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 fleurons and roulettes. 2 corners slightly bumped. Good copy.
Memoirs of the very famous tragedienne Hyppolyte de la Tude Clairon (1723-1803), who was revered by the greatest figures (Diderot, Voltaire, Louis XV...). The actress was not content with her success alone but contributed to the profound regeneration of French theater. Marmontel was her lover and encouraged her to abandon the declamatory style. The portrait of Mlle Dumesnil, who was long her rival, contains great acrimony. The work is not composed like classical memoirs but rather as a succession of articles and chapters addressing different themes, more or less personal; one will find letters, critiques of plays...

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

MACARTNEY George Lord
Voyage dans l'intérieur de la Chine, et en Tartarie, fait dans les années 1792, 1793 et 1794
Chez Buisson, Paris 1798 – 1799, In-8 (12,5 x 19,5 cm), (4) viij, 515 pp. & (4) 412 pp & (4) 399 pp &(4) 326 pp., 5 volumes, contemporary sheep
First edition, with 4 frontispieces and 3 large folding maps at the end of volume 4 (excellent travel maps, maps of China, etc.). Numerous tables at the end of volume 4 on commerce and money, among others.
Contemporary light brown porphyry sheep. Spine with two different blindtools, roulettes at bands and foot of spine. Title and volume labels of green morocco. Frieze border to covers. Headpiece of volume I worn in parts. One corner bumped. A little rubbing. A fine copy.
This account was put together based on the papers of Lord Macartney and the commanders and ambassadors of the journey by Macartney's secretary, Sir George Staunton.
Macartney was sent to China by order of George III as ambassador extraordinary for the first tine with the goal of establishing trade relations, meeting with the Chinese elites and recording any observations possible on his journey. He sailed from Portsmouth in three ships, The Lion, the Hindoostan and the Jackal. Macartney made his way across much of the country, and stopped in Tianjin and Peking. Nonetheless, due to differing customs, the mission was a total failure. For the Chinese, diplomatic relations could not be undertaken on an equal footing; the ambassadors should have prostrated themselves before the Emperor and sworn allegiance to him, which Macartney refused to do, being unable to accept any kind of subordination of the British King to the Chinese Emperor. China's categorical refusal to establish trade relations laid the foundations for the Opium Wars and the fall of the Chinese Empire.
This work remains one of the best descriptions of the territories Macartney crossed, giving detailed information on the sciences, natural history, aristocracy and more...and will be eminently useful to anyone following in Macartney's footsteps.

DIDEROT Denis
Jacques le Fataliste et son maître
Chez Buisson, à Paris An Cinquième de la République [1796], in-8 (130 x 210 mm), (2 f.) xxij; 23-286 pp & (2f.) 320 pp., 2 volumes, later paper boards
First, posthumous, edition on Hollande paper. An entirely uncut copy with exceptional margins (130 x 210 mm).
Later (probably 19th century) caramel paper boards, spines with double gilt fillets and title and volume labels of red and black morocco. Headpieces very slightly rubbed and a few occasional foxing, but otherwise a very good copy.
The introductory text, To the Memory of Diderot, is by Jakob-Heinrich Meister, a friend of Necker and Frédéric Melchior Grimm's heir to the literary correspondence.
The novel, in development from 1765 on, appeared in parts in this review from 1778 to 1780. The published version was nonetheless not definitive, since Diderot did not stop adding to it until his death and the work that was in 1771 125 pages long was 200 by 1778, 208 in 1780, and 287 in 1783. Nonetheless, the work, well before its French publication, was already known in Germany thanks to Schiller's translation (which appeared in 1787 in his review, Thalia). Following this version, Doray de Longrais produced a French version of the same story. In 1792, Germany gained access to the full version thanks to a new translation by Mylius. Finally, it was in 1796 that the original text was published in France from a copy most likely furnished by Grimm or Goethe.
A superb, well-margined copy.

Second edition statement on the title page. Edition published at the date of the original, it is possible that the second edition statement is fictitious. One copy in the electronic catalogue of the BN de France, none in French catalogues, but numerous ones in England. Pamphlet in its original state, in blue paper wrappers. Political pamphlet denouncing the restoration of the monarchy in England (and the tyranny of Charles II) after the popular revolution that had deposed it. A parallel is established with the situation of the young French republic. Constant was accused of having wanted to prepare minds for the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire.

First edition.
Half olive sheep binding, smooth spine with gilt fillets, roulettes and typographical motif.
Scattered foxing, small corner lacks to title and half-title pages and table of contents pages.