Nicolas Gosselin

Complete copy comprising two translations by Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt, whose works are commonly known as "belles infidèles" (beautiful but unfaithful translations). Between 1662 and 1795, no other translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War was published. The privilege granted to the bookseller Clousier in 1712 was shared among several booksellers, including Michel-Étienne David, Nicolas Gosselin, and Jean-Geoffroy Nyon.

Contemporary full brown calf, gilt spines with five raised bands and four compartments decorated with plain and dotted fillets enclosing fleuron tools, tan morocco lettering-pieces, numbering-pieces within gilt...

Statement of third edition. The colophon bears the date 1702; indeed, the play was not performed until 1701, and the first publication, posthumous, only took place in 1702. There were in fact three different printings in 1702, one at the address of Damien Beugnié, another at that of the Widow of Clément Gasse, and the last at Nicolas Gosselin's.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Tail headcap worn. Overall rubbing. Corners bumped.
Besides the dedication which explains the author's project, the work contains a preface in which the playwright attacks the objections against his play. Boursault died in 1701, before...

First edition comprising the first 10 volumes published in 1719 and the five volumes of supplements subsequently published in 1724, all complete with plates (see Cohen 731-732).

The illustration, as remarkable as it is abundant, comprises a magnificent frontispiece signed by Sébastien Le Clerc representing the authors of Antiquity in front of the forecourt of a grandiose monument, skillfully put into perspective; a portrait of the dedicatee, Count...