Illustrated Books (16th - 18th Centuries)

Illustrated first edition. Faerno's verses appeared for the first time in 1564, and Perrault's version in 1699. This edition gives for the first time Faerno's original text followed by Perrault's translation. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Claude du Bosc representing Aesop among animals, and 100 unsigned headpieces (9 x 11 cm). The preliminary leaves contain some poems by the neo-Latin poet and some letters.

Full aubergine morocco binding from the late 19th century signed Chatelin in the frieze. Richly ornamented spine with raised bands. Title, date and place in gilt. Central framing à la Du Seuil with fleurons in the corners and 4 large fleurons inside the rectangle...

New édition after the first complete edition in 2 volumes of 1726, illustrated with a frontispiece and 12 charming and picturesque unsigned figures by Dubercelle. Title pages in red and black. Good impression. The frontispiece reproduces that of the first edition of 1707, it has been re-engraved. 

Contemporary full glazed brown calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Lower joint split at foot for 2 cm, otherwise handsome copy, very fresh.

It was this work that made Lesage a distinguished and immediately celebrated writer. The author had borrowed the framework from Guevarra, the devil carrying a mortal over the rooftops and observing...

First illustrated edition with 3 title vignettes and 3 figures by Eisen in volume I (as well as 3 pages of engraved music) plus 3 tailpieces and 1 figure by Marillier, 2 by Barbier and 3 title vignettes by Marillier in volume II, plus 3 tailpieces. All engraved by Fessard, Longueil, Née, Delaunay and Halbou. Very fine illustration, very elegant.
Contemporary full calf binding with scale pattern. Spine with raised bands decorated. Red morocco title labels, and green morocco volume labels. Triple-ruled frame on boards. Edges gilt. Small lack to upper joint at head of volume I. Signs of rubbing. Pale scattered foxing. One lack to margin of p. 479. The binder has inverted the volume...

Second edition, after the first published in 1779, expanded by Rouland, and illustrated with 8 folding plates at the end, compared to 5 for the first edition.

Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Two corners bumped. Rubbing. One loss at head. Light foxing on the first leaves. Good copy.

Awakened to experimental physics as a student of Abbé Nollet, Sigaud de la Fond assisted the chemist Macquer in his experiments on gases and notably hydrogen, verifying that its combustion produced water. He relates in this work his experiments on different types of air, and summarizes the work of foreign...

Second edition statement, rare, published after the original of 1783, and illustrated with 9 plates in fine, of the aerostatic machine and the flying boat.

Bound in full limp vellum binding, reused. Smooth spine with author's name in pen and date at foot. Stains and soiling. Trace of dampstain to lower margin of frontispiece. Leaves browned at beginning of work, and several others scattered throughout bearing browning.

First and important work on aerostation. It brings together several memoirs relating the first balloon flights (On inflammable gas, Observations made by M. Jeaurat, On rubber, Accounts of the first flights at Annonay...

First edition, illustrated with 4 very attractive headpieces by Pronk, 4 tailpieces and 13 folding plates on polyps. Armorial copy with the arms stamped on the spine (ermines and macles) of the Rohan-Chabot family. The armorial bindings of the Rohan and Rohan-Chabot families have the distinctive feature of bearing the heraldic devices exclusively on the spine.

Contemporary full blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with crowned ermines and macles. Joints entirely cracked. Headcaps worn. Corners slightly bumped from rubbing. Occasional minor worming, final plates with upper margin soiled.

It was in these memoirs that...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Mellan and a portrait of the author by Champaigne engraved by Nanteuil, published posthumously by the author's nephew, Martin de Pinchesne.
Contemporary late 18th-century full mottled calf. Spine with raised bands, richly gilt in a grotesque pattern with two alternating tools. Pink calf lettering-piece. Joints split at the head. Worming at the foot. Two corners bumped. Some rubbing. A few leaves evenly browned, others lightly yellowed. Headcap clumsily restored. Yellow dampstain to the lower outer corner of the first 30 pages.

First edition, with the illustrations of the author (often missing) and 79 plates (plate 27-28 double page) hors texte steel-engraved by Forestier after drawings by Antoine Chazal.
Strictly contemporary Romantic binding in brown calf, spine in six compartments richly decorated with gilt fillets and blindtooled arabesques, boards with blindtooled arabesques to corners, double fillet frame and gilt initials ‘A.D.' to centre, gilt roulette framing marbled endpapers and pastedowns, double gilt fillets to edges of covers. Binding very skilfully restored.
Jacques-Pierre Maygrier (1771-1835) was a student of Antoine Dubois, the obstetrician of Empress Marie-Louise. He practiced at the...

New edition, illustrated with 14 plates, most folding.
Contemporary full brown marbled calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, and black wax volume label. 2 corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.
Notable articles in each of the mentioned sections include: Experiments to determine if the strength of ropes exceeds the sum of the strengths of the threads composing these same ropes, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the vegetation of truffles, by M. Geoffroy. Observations on fecal matter, by M. Homberg. Remarks on certain colors, by M. de La Hire. Rules and remarks for the construction of equalities, by M. Rolle. On different ways in which...

Illustrated edition with 16 folding plates, 8 per volume.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf bindings. Raised band spines with gilt ornaments. Red morocco title-labels, and black wax volume labels. Small lack to head of volume I. One corner slightly bumped. Rubbing. Last errata leaf frayed at margin. Good copies.
Notable articles to be retained in each of the mentioned sections include the following: On beam resistance by M. Parent. On conchoids in general by M. de La Hire. Observations on coral analysis by M. Geoffroy. Reflections on magnetic variations by M. Houssaye. General method for finding an infinity of new curved lines by M. Réaumur. Physical explanation of the...

The rare first edition, illustrated with a title-frontispiece and 22 plates after paintings by Eustache Le Sueur and engraved by François Chauveau. Captions of the engravings in two columns, one verse in Latin, with its translation alongside. Brunet III, 1020.
Half chocolate-brown glazed shagreen binding circa 1860 with corners, signed L. Fixon at the bottom of the last leaf. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Engraved title, as well as the initials S. D. Tears with lacks to the lower board. Cut to one corner of the lower board and corner slightly bumped. Some rubbing. Fine copy, very fresh.
Le Sueur painted between 1645 and 1648 the cycle of the life of Saint Bruno, a set of 22...

First edition, rare, illustrated with three folding plates showing the interior of a tomb discovered in 1685.
Modern full parchment binding with flaps, beautiful pastiche of a contemporary Dutch binding in perfect condition. Red morocco title label. Paper yellowed. Pp. 330 and 331 with stains and soiling. Restoration to leaves 49 and 51 with a paper strip at the center of the work.
Composed of two parts, the narrated history itself and Les Actes et preuves, The work extends from the origins of the County of Evreux until 1682. The organization and style are clear and concise, and the whole abounds with erudition, particularly regarding antiquities. One will consult with appetite...

Second edition, illustrated with two musical plates (examples of tunes that can be taught to canaries) and one depicting cages.

Contemporary binding in full speckled brown sheep. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners bumped and rubbed. Scuffing. Scattered foxing. Yellow dampstain on the first six leaves.

Treatise and manual on breeding Canary birds in captivity: feeding, nesting, care, prices, varieties... These aviary birds were particularly appreciated for their beauty, colors and song.

New edition, illustrated with two frontispieces and 12 figures before letters, unsigned. A title vignette repeated on both volumes. Title pages in red and black.
Contemporary full glazed blonde calf bindings. Spines with raised bands decorated with small repeated fleurons in compartments. Red morocco title and volume labels. Decorative gilt board-edges and on leading edges. Edges gilt. The figures are slightly shorter at the outer margin. Joints partially restored. Fine copy, in good binding.
Son of the illustrious actor Montfleury, and like him attached to the Hôtel de Bourgogne, his first plays were farces around 1660, then producing about one play per year, he evolved toward...

Seventh edition, first to illustrate Zimeo, adorned with 7 plates by Moreau le Jeune: a frontispiece and 4 plates for Les Saisons, engraved by Delaunay, Duclos, Prévost and Simonet, and 2 plates for the Contes, Poésies fugitives and Fables orientales, together with 4 headpiece vignettes by Choffard. Our copy is further enriched with separate pulls of the title-page ornament and Choffard's vignettes.
Nineteenth-century binding in full midnight-blue morocco. Five-raised-band spine decorated with pastoral flowers (vine, wheat and billhook, game and hunting horn...) and gilt compartments. Triple gilt fillet and...