Fine 18th Century Illustrated Books

Second edition, illustrated with a macabre engraved frontispiece (cf. Quérard II, 516; Cioranescu, XVIII, 13544, for the original 1712 edition).

Contemporary handwritten annotations on the title leaf.

Full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments with decorative tools, red morocco title label largely missing, gilt fillet framing the covers, sprinkled edges, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.

Headcaps worn down, some rubbing to spine and boards.

Second edition of this highly engaging work of early “libertine” philosophy, in the original sense of the term.

The project of the Réflexions was inspired by a remark from Montaigne: “Si j'estoy faiseur de livres, je feroy un registre commenté des morts diverses. Qui apprendroit les hommes à mourir, leur apprendroit à vivre” (Essais, I, XX).

Yet this first work by the young Boureau-Deslandes, placed on the Index in 1758, is far from being a mere compilation of entertaining anecdotes. While it does recount the deaths of various notable men and women who met their end with distinction, its deeper purpose is to demonstrate the possibility of a philosophy capable of reconciling life and death without recourse to religion.

First and only edition of the author's sole work.

Adorned with a fine engraved portrait of Jacques-Nicolas Colbert (1655–1707), youngest son of the minister and Archbishop of Carthage, to whom the book is dedicated.

Bound in full red morocco, spine with five raised bands, richly gilt compartments decorated with gilt fleurs-de-lys, gilt fillets, and Du Seuil-style panels on the covers; gilt tooling to headcaps and board edges, all edges gilt. Contemporary binding.

Some foxing, small wormholes at head and foot of spine, three black spots at the head of the upper cover.

Provenance: from the library of Alfred Massé (1911–1951), Radical-Socialist deputy for Nièvre under the Third Republic, with his bookplate.

Monogram stamps on the title page.

First edition, illustrated on the title page with a small woodcut showing a bull and a mounted horseman charging, and at the end of the volume with a curious wood-engraved vignette depicting the poet (wearing spectacles) and his muse.

Rare and engaging bullfighting pamphlet containing a verse account of a mounted bullfight held in Lisbon on 26 September 1752.

Pleasing copy preserved in its original sewing with later plain marbled paper wrappers.

Very rare first French edition of this translation, illustrated with a folding plate.

Full mottled tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and typographic motifs, red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, gilt fillet along the edges, lightly rubbed corners, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

A pleasant copy.

The only French translation of the Libellus, quo demonstratur : Colchici autumnalis radicem non solum tuto posse exhiberi hominibus, sed et ejus usu interno curari quandoque morbos difficillimos, qui aliis remediis non cedunt (Vienna, Trattner, 1763), which was also issued in an English version.

An Austrian physician, Anton von Störck (1731–1803) is best known for his research into the therapeutic potential of plants regarded as poisonous.

His studies are considered pioneering in the field of experimental pharmacology, in which he developed a three-stage procedure for testing the effects and dosage of substances.

The second part bears its own title: Observations de Monsieur Locher sur les maladies vénériennes, l'épilepsie, la folie; & sur l'usage interne & externe de la ciguë.

It also includes observations by M. de Haen, and by Mrs. Razoux & Videmar.

Edition published one year after the original, illustrated with four fine copper-engraved plates by Charles Eisen depicting Nordic types (Icelandic women, a bear hunt, Samoyeds, a Laplander in a sleigh) engraved by Le Mire, one folding map by Bellin, thirteen maps, plans, or views (eight of them folding) engraved by Croissey, as well as a charming engraved title vignette and a headpiece by Le Gouaz.

See Sabin, 37616; Chadenat, 1633; Boucher de la Richarderie, I, 380.

Full mottled calf binding, smooth spine richly gilt in compartments decorated with gilt fleurons and geometric motifs, sometimes slightly rubbed, red morocco label, restorations to spine and joints, gilt roll tooling on the caps, red-speckled citron edges, gilt fillets on the board edges; late eighteenth-century binding.

A tall, wide-margined copy.

Provenance: copy from the Château de Menneval, with an engraved bookplate mounted on the pastedown.

First edition, cf. Quérard I, 271: only cites an edition "Paris, Née de La Rochelle, 1789." Kress B.1163. Goldsmiths 13858. Not in Einaudi.

With loose printed title pages for each volume, dated 1789.

The first volume, with an engraved title-frontispiece after Meunier, contains 52 double-page or folding plates inserted into the pagination, without following its numbering logic.

The second volume has an engraved title-frontispiece by Zaveris after Meunier and includes 154 etched plates of coins.

Full mottled calf, spines with six raised bands, gilt fillets and double gilt panels, red morocco title-pieces, green morocco volume labels, gilt rolls on the caps, double blind-ruled borders on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets on edges, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.

Some restorations to the bindings.

Unique edition, very rare (the 1789 printing to which our two additional title leaves would correspond does not seem to be attested despite Quérard’s mention).

An excellent copy on strong vellum paper, large-margined, with the spines elegantly decorated with special gilt tools.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Magellan and four maps and plans depicting the Strait of Magellan (cf. Sabin, 16765; Leclerc, 1971; Chadenat, 552).

Our copy does not include the appendix published in 1793. "A work difficult to find with the second part" (cf. Chadenat).

Full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands framed by gilt fillets and decorated gilt compartments, gilt rolls on the caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, gilt fillets along the edges, modern binding in period style.

An engaging account of this region of South America, containing the following illustrations: Carta Esferica de la parte sur de la America Meridional, año 1788. – Carta reducida des estrecho de Magallanes, año 1788. – Primer plano de varios puertos del estrecho de Magallanes, levantados el año de 1786. – Segundo plano de varios puertos del estrecho de Magallanes, levantados el año de 1786.

Fine copy formerly belonging to naval captain Gaston de Rocquemaurel (1804–1878), second-in-command to Dumont d’Urville during the South Pole and Oceania expedition from 1837 to 1840, with his signature on the title page.

Handsome example of a binding executed in imitation of the eighteenth century.

The ‘Kehl edition’, the most renowned edition of Voltaire's works, illustrated and published on deluxe paper. It was printed on five different types of paper, and only the deluxe editions, such as ours on laid paper, feature engravings. These are naturally the most sought-after and rarest copies.

Binding in full painted sheep decorated with a “honeycomb” motif, smooth spine tooled with gilt fleurons, fillets and compartments, light beige calf lettering and volume pieces, gilt chain-roll border on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt roll on edges, all edges marbled, contemporary binding. Two volumes (nos. 50 and 70) with slight variations in gilt tools on the spines and with orange morocco lettering pieces, edges and covers treated somewhat differently. General condition of the 70 volumes: bindings with light rubbing to corners, gilt a little dulled, occasional foxing, a few wormholes and old restorations, not affecting the text. 28 volumes (vols. 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 24, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 43, 48, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70) with cracked joints at the ends, and 20 volumes (vols. 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 33, 34, 37, 42, 46, 49, 53, 56, 57, 60, 65, 66, 68, 70) with damaged caps.

Two editions were published at the same time. Our copy belongs to the prestigious in-8 edition on large paper published in 70 volumes (the other edition being in-12 format in 92 volumes). It is richly illustrated with 125 etched plates:

- There are 17 portraits, including 3 of Voltaire: a frontispiece portrait by N. de Largillière engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu; one drawn from Houdon's bust by Moreau le Jeune and engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu; and one allegorical portrait by Louis Croutelle after Moreau le Jeune, belonging to the second series of illustrations of Voltaire's works executed by Moreau for the publisher Renouard. The 14 other portraits include an allegorical frontispiece of Frédéric-Guillaume, Prince of Prussia, depicted in profile in a medallion by Dambrun after Moreau le Jeune; a portrait of Henry IV by Pourbus engraved by Tardieu; one of Charles VII engraved after the original in the King's Cabinet by Mavieri; another of Agnès Sorel drawn by Moreau the Younger after the original in the King's Cabinet and engraved by Mavieri; one of Joan of Arc engraved by Beisson; followed by the Count of Dunois engraved after the original in the King's Cabinet by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Louis XIV drawn by Moreau Le Jeune after C. Le Brun engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Charles XII engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu after the original in the King's Cabinet; one of Pierre I engraved by P. G. Langlois after a painting by L. Caravaque; one of Madame du Châtelet after Marie Anne Loir and engraved by P. G. Langlois; one of the Count of Argental after J. Defraine and engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Frédéric II of Prussia painted from life by Van Loo and engraved by P. G. Langlois; one of Catherine II of Russia engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; and one of d'Alembert after De La Tour engraved by N. F. Maviez.

- 93 engravings by Moreau le Jeune, including 44 figures for le Théâtre (engraved by Lingée, Simonet, de Launay, Trière, Halbou, Duclos, Romanet, Dambrun, de Longueil, Delignon, Le Mire, Le Veau), 10 for la Henriade (engraved by Masquelier, Delignon, Dambrun, Patas, Gutemberg, Helman, Simonet, Duclos, Romanet), 21 for la Pucelle (engraved by Simonet, Dambrun, Halbou, Baquoy, Trière, Delignon, de Longueil, Croutelle and Duclos), 4 for the Contes (in verse, engraved by Langlois, Duclos, Delignon and Le Veau) and 14 for the Romans (engraved by Trière, Duclos, de Longueil, Dambrun, Baquoy, Delignon, Simonet, Langlois and Halbou). 

- 14 scientific plates in volume 31, illustrating the experiments of Newton, Descartes and Leibniz.

- 1 battle plan in volume 24 about the Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand.

According to Bengesco (IV, no. 2142), our copy is missing a portrait of Louis XV in volume 22, as well as a portrait of Voltaire by De La Tour (replaced here in the last volume by an allegorical portrait by Louis Croutelle after Moreau le Jeune). This copy includes all the additional portraits, with the exception of two illustrations that are almost always missing: a portrait of Vertot and an engraving of the Œuvres.

Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.

Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular diseases and aneurysms. These contributions are gathered in the present work, illustrated with ten anatomical plates of the heart. "Lancisi, great Italian clinician, was the first to describe cardiac syphilis; he was also notable as an epidemiologist, with a clear insight into the theory of contagion. He was physician to Pope Clement XI, who turned over to him the forgotten copper plates executed by Eustachius in 1552. Lancisi published these with his own notes in 1714. [...] Lancisi's posthumous De aneurysmatibus published in 1728 appears only in later collected editions" (Garrison & Morton).

Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard. The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders. 
Contemporary red morocco bindings, flat spines gilt in a lattice design with floral gilttooling, beige morocco volume and title labels, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on the edges, gilt roll-tooled borders on the pastedowns, blue paper endleaves and doublures, gilt dentelle turn-ins, all edges gilt. Joints expertly restored.

A handsome copy, elegantly bound in contemporary red morocco with richly gilt-tooled spines, of this edition undertaken by Etienne Fessard, dedicated to the heirs to the kingdom or"enfants de France", the Duke of Berry, the Count of Provence, and the Count of Artois.

Very rare first edition illustrated at the end with 4 folding plates (cf Quérard VII, 190).

Modern binding in half mottled sheep with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, red morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards.

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

Chapters on fire, the causes of fires, stoves and chimneys, floors, partitions, staircases, roofing, etc.

Pleasant copy.

First edition of this highly important work, presenting the full text of all decrees and ordinances relating to trade with the Americas, primarily the West Indies (cf. Sabin 11812. Leclerc 113. Barbier I, 649 c. Ined 1038, 1783 edition).

Illustrated with two engraved frontispiece titles and ten maps (nine folding), depicting South America, North America (repeated in vol. 2), Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Domingue (2), Cayenne and its surroundings, Louisiana, the Guinea coast, as well as twelve engraved plates showing botanical specimens (sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, cocoa), genre scenes (a Black king dispensing justice, a slave market, turtle fishing), various tools and objects (ventilator, suction pump), industrial activities (plantation layout, sugar mill, indigo workshop), etc.

Bound in modern pastiche bindings: half mottled tan sheep over marbled boards, spine with five raised bands adorned with gilt garlands, double gilt panels, red edges.

Minor black ink stains to the edges of volume one, a pleasant copy overall.

New edition, adorned with a portrait of the author by Daullé, three headpieces by de Sève engraved by Juste Chevillet, twelve plates engraved by Jacques Aliamet, Jean-Jacques Flipart, Noël Le Mire, Louis-Simon Lempereur, Dominique Sornique, and Jacques-Nicolas Tardieu, and thirteen vignettes and sixty tail-pieces, all by de Sève engraved by Jean-Charles Baquoy, Jean-Jacques Flipart, and Louis Legrand.

A superb copy of the first luxury edition of Racine, among the most sought-after, bound in the most sumptuous red morocco.

Contemporary full red morocco, spine with five raised bands and gilt compartments, triple gilt fillet border, corner fleurons, yellow morocco lettering pieces and volume numbers, double gilt fillets on the boards, marbled endpapers, double gilt fillet on the edges, gilt dentelle turn-ins, gilt edges. Occasional light foxing, mostly on the early leaves of the volumes; some browned pages; skilfully restored corners and joints; a few scratches.

First edition, illustrated with 27 engraved plates (13 in the first volume and 14 in the second – plates 1–7 mistakenly bound after plates 8–14), cf. Ryckebusch 4989. Toussaint et Adolphe D 903. Gay 3239. Robertson 129.

Full mottled fawn calf bindings, flat spines gilt with triple fillets and floral tools (gilding partly faded), gilt roll tooling to headcaps, cherry morocco title and volume labels, plain endpapers with some usual marginal soiling, marbled edges. 19th-century bindings presented in two modern custom slipcases.

Joints restored, internally clean and well-preserved.

The astronomer Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de La Galaisière (1725–1792), a student of Jean-Dominique Cassini, spent nearly ten years in India and travelling through the Indian Ocean region.

"His work contains valuable information on currents, tides, monsoons, etc. He introduced knowledge of the Hindu zodiac and Brahmanic astronomy, and noted its concordance with Chaldean science" (Hoefer).

The second volume is entirely devoted to the Philippines (pp. 1–366, plates 1–5), Madagascar (pp. 367–628, plates 6–10), and the islands of France and Bourbon (pp. 629–844, plates 11–14).

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding copper-engraved frontispiece by Bénard: "Mort du Capitaine Cook à Owhy-hée, Fevrier 1779," and a folding map titled "Carte montrant la route suivie par M. Cook… dans son troisième et dernier Voyage."

See O'Reilly and Reitman, 419. See also Hill, p. 253, for the first English edition. Forbes, Hawaiian National Biography, 45.

Contemporary binding in half marbled calf with vellum-tipped corners, spine decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, red edges.

Restored loss to the title page. The half-title is lacking in our copy; the boards are modern.

"An apocryphal account of the third voyage, published surreptitiously more than two years before the official edition. Hocken […] attributed it to Ledyard, who also wrote a narrative of the expedition. But F. W. Howay […] demonstrated that the true author was John Rickman, lieutenant aboard the Discovery. Includes some unpublished details and episodes." Cf. O'Reilly (no. 415). "All the journals kept on board were claimed by the Admiralty, thus the author remained strictly anonymous. The text, especially as regards details of Cook’s death, differs considerably from other accounts." Cf. Hill.

This work also contains one of the earliest high-quality accounts of the Hawaiian Islands: see Forbes, p. 23.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Ozanne depicting the frigate *L’Aurore*, engraved by Haussard, four plates of instruments, and one folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 2098).

Contemporary-style binding in bronze half calf, flat spine decorated with double gilt fillets, bronze morocco title label with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, modern binding.

In 1767, Coutanvaux was commissioned by the Académie des Sciences to undertake a voyage to the North to test various marine timekeeping systems.

Some light foxing, not affecting the text.

Deluxe edition superbly illustrated with 3 engraved titles, a portrait, a frontispiece and 72 figures, 4 vignettes and 66 tailpieces, all by Le Barbier, and engraved by Alix, Baquoy, Dambrun, Delignon, Gaucher, Giraud le jeune, Godefroy, halbou, Langlois jeune, Le Beau, Lépine, Le Villain, de Longueil, Pauquet, Petit, Ponce, Taxier, Thomas, Trière and Viguet. The first plates are numbered and within frames with captions in the lower margin, the following ones bear pagination indications. Some plates are dated, from 1782 to 1792. Fine printing on vellum. 

Contemporary full green morocco binding. Smooth spine decorated with 4 cornucopia tools, and roulettes. Frame roulette on the boards. Roulette on the leading edges and interior. Pink paper on pastedowns. Edges gilt. Traces of rubbing. Darker areas on the boards of volume 2. Spine uniformly lightened. Scattered foxing.

First and unique edition of this work, illustrated with 9 plates engraved by Benard after drawings by Penevert (cf Polak 8371).

Binding in half mottled tawny basane with vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes, black basane title piece partially torn, some rubbing and small holes on the spine, marbled paper boards with small paper losses, contemporary binding.

Some restorations on the spine, corners rubbed.

This work is one of the volumes of the *Description des Arts et Métiers* published at the initiative of the Académie des Sciences.

Author of numerous works on navigation and ships, Romme was a professor of mathematics at the School of Marine Guards of Rochefort. He developed a new method for measuring longitudes at sea, which earned him election as a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in 1775.

The plates depict ships with their rigging, as well as various types of sails with the pieces that allow them to be maneuvered: ropes, pulleys, shrouds, etc.

The text is accompanied by numerous tables detailing the technical characteristics of the sails and ends with an explanation of the nautical terms used in this work.

Pleasant interior condition.

First edition, first issue, with every feature described by Cohen. The illustration includes a frontispiece, three dedication plates, four printed titles in red and black with engraved vignette, thirty vignettes, and a fine tailpiece concluding the final volume. In addition, there are 140 engraved full-page plates (including the frontispiece, numbered 2 to 140), by Boucher, Eisen, Gravelot, Leprince, Monnet, and Moreau, and engraved by Baquoy, Basan, Binet, Duclos, and de Ghendt - 48 in the first volume, 33 in the second, 37 in the third, and 22 in the last. The frontispiece, the fleurons in the first three volumes, and the vignettes were drawn and engraved by Choffart. 

The French translation by Abbé Antoine Banier is printed opposite the Latin text. It also contains historical notes by the translator and a Life of Ovid from his writings under the name M. G***. Our copy is complete, including the 'avis au relieur' bound in volume 4. The plates are printed on a cream thick laid paper, while the text appears on fine laid paper.

Full red glazed morocco contemporary bindings, spines with five raised bands elaborately decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons. The set is well preserved overall, with a few scattered spots and light foxing; some plates are slightly browned. To the upper joint of Vol. 3, a small perforation and minor crack.

A truly magnificent publication, pinnacle of 18th-century illustrated works by the engraver Le Mire. Together with the renowned Fermiers Généraux edition of La Fontaine’s Contes, it is undoubtedly the most elegantly illustrated book of this century. The project includes the finest illustrators and engravers, with mythological subjects serving as particular inspiration. Ovid’s timeless masterpiece comprises 246 fables of metamorphoses, from Chaos to the transformation of Julius Caesar into a star, providing a comprehensive repository of Greco-Roman mythology and an inexhaustible iconographic resource for the history of art.

A handsome and exceedingly rare first issue, bound in contemporary red morocco.

Armorial ex-libris of William Vincens Bouguereau (son of the painter), a card of the Baron de Noirmont.

First edition of this excellent maritime dictionary, later reprinted in 1780, 1797, and 1799.

The work is complete in all its parts and includes 31 engraved plates by Le Gouaz after the author's drawings.

Contemporary full mottled calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, red morocco title label, headcap worn down, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, upper corners worn.

Small loss to the upper left corner of the front free endpaper, tears to the left margin of the title page, occasional foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy internally.

Born in Lyon on 5 November 1743, Daniel Lescallier entered naval service in December 1765 as a writer in charge of accounting at Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Saint-Domingue.

Appointed student-commissary in February 1767, then assistant commissary of ports and arsenals in February 1770, he sailed in 1773 aboard the ship *Le Languedoc*, before being sent by ministerial order to England, Russia, and Sweden. His travel account was published in 1775. Made commissary of ports and arsenals in January 1777, he was appointed in January 1780 as colonial commissary in Grenada, recently seized by d’Estaing, then in May 1782 as commissary in Demerara (British Guiana), recently occupied by Kersaint’s division. Appointed chief commissary in Cayenne in May 1785 and first councillor to the colony’s Superior Council, he endeavoured to rouse the colony from its lethargy before returning to France in July 1788. In 1789–1790, Lescallier travelled again to England and the Netherlands to study shipbuilding techniques. In August 1790, he became assistant to the Navy Committee of the National Assembly and, in February 1792, civil commissary in the Indian Ocean colonies. Captured by the English on 22 August 1793 after the capitulation of Pondicherry, he did not return to France until 1797. Head of the Colonial Bureau at the Ministry of the Navy from August 1797, he was appointed ordonnateur at Corfu but was unable to reach his post. Named colonial prefect of Guadeloupe in July 1801, he returned to France via the United States in April 1804. He was appointed maritime prefect of Genoa in February 1806 and of Le Havre from May 1808 to August 1810. In October 1810, he was made consul general to the United States, but was captured by the English en route. He escaped, returned to France at the end of 1815, left the service, and died in Paris on 14 May 1822.

Second edition of the French translation, expanded with a few remarks and illustrated with a map of the North Atlantic and 9 folding plates outside the text (natural history, views, Inuit types, etc.), cf. Sabin 22312n. "European Americana" 750/110. See Leclerc 717 for the first French edition published a year earlier.

The plates are captioned in both French and Dutch; the original English edition was published in London in 1748; the first French edition appeared in Paris in 1749.

The work opens with a historical account of earlier attempts to discover a route to the East Indies via the Northwest Passage.

Contemporary binding in full marbled calf, spine with gilt compartments decorated with floral tools, some fading to the gilt, modern havana morocco label, gilt roll tooling on the caps, gilt dentelle frame inside the boards, marbled edges, gilt fillets along the board edges.

The text begins with a chronicle of the various efforts made up to 1746 to discover the Northwest Passage.

Henry Ellis, the English traveller, was born in 1721 and died in Naples on January 21, 1806. As hydrographer and mineralogist, he took part in the 1746 expedition aimed at finding a northern route to the Indies and published this account, which includes valuable observations on Inuit customs. He was later appointed governor of Georgia and Nova Scotia.

Ink ownership inscription at the foot of the title-page.

A handsome copy.

Second illustrated edition, with 68 wood engravings within the text.

The first leaf bears, on its verso, a few lines of music (the recto is blank). On the final leaf, the same score reveals, when folded, lines of writing: "Les notes musicales qui servent de Frontispice à cet Ouvrage, ressemblent parfaitement au Discours & à la Musique ci-dessus. C'est la manière de plier le papier qui fait paraître l'un & disparaître l'autre" (cf. Fechner, p. 152).

Paris: Chez l'Auteur, Granger, Bailly, Lesclapart, Hardouin & Gattey, Varin, Lagrange [Printed by Veuve Hérissant], 1786. Octavo (in-8), 2 ff. n. ch., pp. [v] to xix, 328 pp., 1 folding unnumbered leaf in accordion format, 68 woodcuts in the text.

Bound in modern pastiche half brown calf with vellum tips, spine with gilt fillets and small tools, green morocco label, endpapers and pastedowns lightly shaded, red edges.

The first edition of this text appeared in 1785.

This volume constitutes the third part of Henri Decremps' renowned treatise on recreational science, the first volume of which, La Magie Blanche dévoilée, was printed in 1784; a supplement appeared in 1785, followed by this Testament, then a fourth and fifth part.

"Henri Decremps, born in Beduer-en-Quercy on April 15, 1746, died in 1826, jurist, mathematician and Doctor of Law, served as interpreter-secretary at the French Embassy to the Court of England" [Fechner].

A pleasant copy.

Rare first edition of this elementary Arabic grammar, the author's first publication, composed at the beginning of his teaching career in Oriental languages at Jena by the pastor and theologian Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus (1761–1851), who would later become known primarily for his systematically rationalist interpretation of the Scriptures.

Illustrated with 5 folding tables.

We have identified only three copies in the CCF (Bulac, Strasbourg, and Chambéry).

Some occasional foxing, small loss of leather to the lower left corner of the upper board.

Contemporary full tree calf binding, spine with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools, cherry-red morocco label, gilt roll tooling to headcaps, dentelle border, gilt single fillet and egg-and-dart garland on covers, gilt single fillet on edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns with gilt dentelle border, yellow edges.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a portrait of the author and 29 engraved plates depicting objects, ornaments, coins, plants, and animals (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Japonica, 447. Gay, 3151. Brunet, V, 850).

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, flat spines richly decorated with gilt typographic tools, gilt roll tooling at head and tail, brown morocco title-pieces, dark green morocco volume labels, gilt roll-tooled borders on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, yellow edges.

A Swedish botanist and naturalist, Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) studied medicine and natural history at Uppsala and became one of Linnaeus’s most brilliant pupils.

In 1771, he sailed as a surgeon aboard a ship of the Dutch East India Company. Upon arrival at the Cape, he remained in the colony for three years, exploring regions inhabited by the Hottentots and the Kaffirs while collecting specimens of plants and animals. In 1775, he traveled to Java, stayed in Batavia, and eventually reached Japan. He settled on the island of Deshima, in Nagasaki Bay, where the Dutch trading post of the Company was located. There he worked as a physician and obtained permission to botanize in the nearby mountains, where he collected a large number of rare and previously unknown plants, along with many natural history specimens. In 1776, he accompanied the Dutch Company’s director on a visit to the shogun in Edo (Tokyo), allowing him to explore further and gather more botanical samples. He returned to Sweden in 1779. The first volume recounts the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, his stays at the Cape, and his first journey inland; the second volume describes his second trip along the Kaffir coast, return to the Cape, journey to Java, and arrival in Nagasaki; the third is entirely devoted to Japan: trade with the Dutch and Chinese, government, administration, religion, language, character and portrait of the Japanese, zoological observations, minerals, etc. The final volume continues with Japan: food, festivals, weaponry, agriculture, calendar, etc., followed by the account of the return voyage via Ceylon. It also includes Lamarck’s explanations of the eight natural history plates.

A rare copy of this important travel account.

Provenance: From the library of the Château de Menneval, with armorial bookplates on the pastedowns of each volume.

Second edition of Lucas’s third journey to the Near East, undertaken between 1714 and 1717 (first published in 1729); cf. Gay, 2122. Chadenat, 5090. Atabey 734. Blackmer, 1038.

The illustrations include two folding maps (Anatolia and surrounding regions by de l’Isle; Lower Egypt and the course of the Nile by Lucas) and 32 plates outside the text: monuments, picturesque views, architectural plans, archaeological artefacts, various inscriptions, etc.

Contemporary half tawny sheep, smooth spines ruled in gilt with triple fillets, headcaps stained, some rubbing, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges, some wear to the edges of the first volume. 19th-century bindings.

Pleasant internal condition.

According to Brunet (III, 1204), the text was written by Abbé Banier.

A soldier, naturalist, collector and dealer, Paul Lucas (Rouen, 1664 – Madrid, 1737) showed a marked passion for travel from an early age.

He first left for the Levant to trade in precious stones, joining the Venetian army in 1688 and becoming captain of a ship armed against the Turks. Returning to France in 1696 with a collection of antiquities and coins he sold to the King's Cabinet, he was commissioned by Louis XIV to undertake journeys that would make him famous. From 1699 to 1703, he visited Egypt, Cyprus, Persia and Syria. His second expedition, from 1704 to 1708, took him to Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Egypt and Libya. In 1714, he was entrusted with a new mission in the Levant: he travelled through Rumelia and Thessaly, passed through Constantinople and Smyrna before visiting Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Departing from Cairo, he returned to Paris in December 1717.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 12 folding plates and maps outside the text, and 11 folding tables included in the pagination (cf. Sabin 62574).

Contemporary full mottled calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt panels, floral tools and gilt medallions, red morocco title label with some loss and partially lifting, gilt garland frame on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges yellow.

Some minor foxing, one joint fragile.

Famous account of this "unfortunate expedition which served to demonstrate the impossibility of crossing the Polar ice" [Hoefer]. Pages 187 to 208 are devoted to natural history, with 2 plates [XI and XII] depicting crustaceans and mollusks.

Rare first edition of this "relation (...) much sought after for its accuracy", illustrated with 19 folding plates, including 2 maps (cf. Sabin 3604, Leclerc 119).

Full marbled tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments decorated with gilt floral motifs, small chip at foot of spine, scuffing to covers, red edges, bumped corners, gilt fillets along the board edges, contemporary binding.

The author, a physician and botanist born in Perpignan in 1690—where he held a post at the military hospital—was introduced by Antoine de Jussieu to the Conseil de la Marine in August 1721 and appointed royal physician and botanist in French Guiana. He landed in Cayenne at the end of 1721 and left the colony in May 1724. During his stay, he explored the banks of the Kourou and Orapu rivers, studying the local flora, fauna, and indigenous customs.

His account, one of the earliest on French Guiana, is of great importance and was widely used by eighteenth-century geographers.

First edition, illustrated with 3 hors-texte plates (cf. Rodrigues 1357. Borba de Moraes I, 381. See INED 2496 for the 1774 edition).

The plates depict: Brama, god of the Indians – View of a pagoda tower – Snake charmer.

Contemporary-style binding in marbled tawny calf over vellum-tipped corners, spine with five raised bands, ruled in gilt, brown calf lettering-piece, marbled paper-covered boards, red sprinkled edges, modern binding.

Coromandel Coast, European trading posts, military strongholds, Indian religion, medicine, anatomy, caste system, Indian manners, dress, dwellings, gardens, food (and temperance), wedding rituals, funerals, Indian morals, fauna, flora, etc.

Pages 3 to 21 are devoted to Brazil. The author made a stop at Bourbon Island (pp. 25 to 27).

Provenance: from the Breitenbauch library, with its armorial bookplate pasted on the endpaper.

A pleasing copy.

Illustrated edition comprising 54 plates depicting twelve views and over sixty different costumes, along with monuments and picturesque scenes (including bullfights), most of them based on drawings executed in 1809 and 1810 (cf. Colas, 439; Lipperheide, 1214; Brunet, I, 1226, no. 3; Quérard, I, 506).

Contemporary half blond calf bindings, spines with four false raised bands adorned with triple gilt and black fillets, gilt rolls at head and foot, marbled paper boards with minor surface losses along the fore-edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. Unsigned bindings, yet attributable to Thouvenin.

Scattered foxing, small tear on page 63 of volume 5.

"J'ai tâché d'offrir à mes lecteurs quelque chose de neuf […] Ce sont particulièrement des ouvrages en langues étrangères qui ont servi de base à ma description et au texte explicatif d'estampes jusqu'alors inédites pour la France. Sans négliger le voyage pittoresque de don Antonio Ponz, dont j'ai eu constamment l'original espagnol sous les yeux, j'ai recouru plus particulièrement à deux ouvrages publiés récemment en Angleterre, l'un en 1812, l'autre en 1813. Le texte magnifique de ces ouvrages est enrichi d'un grand nombre d'estampes qui ont été transportées dans le mien. M. Bradford, auteur du plus considérable des deux, étoit attaché en qualité de dessinateur à l'état-major de lord Wellington. L'autre, publié sous ce titre modeste, Costumes of Portugal, est rempli d'observations ingénieuses et piquantes…" (Preface, pp. V–VII).

The historical overview, spanning from the Carthaginians to Ferdinand VII, occupies volume 1; the second volume describes Catalonia and the kingdoms of Valencia, Murcia, and Granada. The next volume is devoted to the kingdom of Seville (including Cádiz and Algeciras), Gibraltar, the Jewish communities of Spain, Andalusia, and the kingdom of Galicia. Volume 4 covers the principality of Asturias, Old Castile, Biscay, and the kingdoms of Aragon, Navarre, and León.

The fifth volume continues with the kingdom of León, New Castile (including a description of Madrid), the kingdom of Córdoba, and Majorca.

The sixth and final volume is entirely dedicated to Portugal.

The charming period binding is by Thouvenin, who signed only one volume (La Suisse) of this impressive collection that has passed through our hands.

Provenance: from the library of Sinety, with an armorial bookplate affixed to the front pastedown of each volume.

Edition regarded as the masterpiece of the painter and engraver Charles Eisen, and a counterfeit of the famed Fermiers généraux edition.

This edition is illustrated with 2 engraved frontispieces by Vidal, 2 title vignettes, 1 portrait after Hyacinthe Rigaud, along with 80 plates and 43 tailpieces. One engraving is unfortunately missing from our copy, which contains 79 engravings instead of 80.

A few minor spots, not affecting the text.

Bound in contemporary full green morocco, flat spines slightly sunned, decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt floral and typographic motifs, red morocco lettering-pieces and volume labels, gilt roll tooling at head and tail, light rubbing to joints, triple gilt fillet frames on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt borders on pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, all edges gilt. Roman bookseller’s labels affixed to the pastedowns. Contemporary bindings.

A handsome copy, bound in contemporary full morocco, of La Fontaine's tales superbly illustrated by Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen.

New edition, partially original as it is augmented with three new stories and the life of the author (previously published in 1744; before this date, editions included only 10 stories).
The false title of the second volume bears the title "Diverse Works," these two volumes, although sold separately, could be placed after the six-volume Don Quixote. The original title "Exemplary Novels" was used concurrently in other editions.
Translation by Abbé Martin de Chassonville. It is illustrated with a portrait of the author engraved by Gentot after Kent, and 13 plates, of which 12 are engraved by Aveline after Folkema, and one by Daudel. The engravings are charming and pleasing, with typical interiors (pharmacy, hospital...).
Full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines adorned with gilded fleurons, gilded rolls at the tails, grenadine morocco title pieces, brown morocco volume number pieces, triple gilded fillet borders on the covers enriched with gilded angular fleurons, gilded dentelles on the endpapers, all edges gilded, one bumped corner, some rubbing on the joints and covers, contemporary binding.

• Volume 1 : 2 fr. et 22 pl. (+1) - vij (1) 304 pp.
• Volume 2 : 2 fr. et 14 pl. - 312 pp. Page 147 mounted. Two small restorations to the lower margin of pages 266 and 267.
• Volume 3 : 2 fr. et 23 pl. - 304 pp. Lower part of p. 121 restored, probably during the binding process, with a different typeface on the last two lines of the text.
• Volume 4 : 2 fr. et 15 pl. (+1) - 293 pp. (3). Small hole to the last page (publisher's catalogue)

• Tome 1 : 2 fr. et 10 pl. - 344 pp. 2 title pages dated 1784 "chés la d.me Veuve Duchesne" + 1 title page Les Dangers de la ville. Restoration to the upper corner of p. 9.
• Tome 2 : 2 fr. et 4 pl. - 320 pp. (mal chif. 220). Title page of Les Dangers de la ville pasted over that of La Paysane pervertie 1784 "chés le libraire indiqué au frontispice de la I Partie du Paysan"
• Tome 3 : 2 fr. et 7 pl. - 320 pp. 2 versions of the title pages as described above. A restoration to the inner margin of p. 257.
• Tome 4 : 2 fr. et 9 pl. - 344 pp. ; 8 pp. ; (1) clxx-ccxliv (12) Also 2 versions also of the title page. The first page of the text of Dangers de la ville bound, with some skillful restorations.

Very rare first Viennese edition, illustrated with 366 figures by Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner. Remarkable baroque iconography. Only one copy located in electronic library catalogues at Strasbourg, one copy at Cambridge and another at Oxford.
Contemporary half brown sheep bindings, spines with raised bands decorated with fillets, green sheep title and volume labels. Skilful restorations to joints and headcaps. Rubbing to speckled paper boards. Although pagination is continuous across the four volumes and collation appears complete, we note the absence of a title page to the third part (binder's oversight?).
Engraved bookplate Froissart, second manuscript bookplate Augustin Sotteau.

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. Triple fillet frame. Rich interior frieze with fleur-de-lys. Gilt edges. Red peacock-tail paper slipcase with blue felt interior. Perfect freshness of the paper.

Sumptuous copy lavishly bound in a master binding.

Superb work of fables very close in its illustration to emblem books. The book is moreover catalogued as such in several collections of emblems, as emphasized by the art historian Mario Praz, although it is not strictly speaking one.
19th-century engraved bookplate of A. Hornung.

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 numbers.

Handsome copy.

Volume I: Salisbury, Varbeck, Le Sire de Crequy.
Volume II: Le Prince de Bretagne, La Duchesse de Chatillon, Le Comte de Strafford.

Most of Baculard d'Arnaud's narratives show an immoderate taste for true anecdotes (historical or picturesque and drawn from various regions: Italy, Germany, Spain) and the author is perfectly representative of this literature that would give rise to the gothic and dark novel. An exacerbated, sparkling sentimentalism animates the author's works, with a certain complacency in depicting evil and a rather morbid pleasure in emotions. Were it not for the framework that often defines the gothic novel, which is absent from d'Arnaud's works (except for Le Comte de Comminges), the author is very close to this movement in late 18th-century literature.