Gift Ideas – Antique Books

First edition, illustrated with 72 hand-coloured plates hors texte (cf. Blackmer 300. Colas I, 545. Quérard II, 75. Brunet I, 1226.)

Uniformly bound in full mottled fawn calf, smooth spines slightly faded, decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and figures, red morocco lettering and volume labels, small wormholes at the foot of the spines of volumes 2 & 3, gilt rolls to the spine ends, covers framed with dog-tooth rolls, gilt fillets and garlands, marbled endpapers, gilt roll borders to the pastedowns, gilt dotted edges, all edges gilt, contemporary bindings.

Some rubbing to certain spines and spine ends, some corners bumped, our copy lacks the 5 leaves of binder's directions and the leaf concerning the orthography of Arabic words (in volume VI), which are not present in all copies.

Illustrated with 72 hand-coloured plates, engraved with the burin by Lambert. Most are reduced versions of those by Dalvimart (Costumes of Turkey), depicting costumes and of considerable ethnographic interest.

"A compendium of Ottoman history, preceded by a historical précis on Mahomet and the caliphs, forms the subject of the first two volumes. The third [...] offers an insight into the Ottoman court, that is to say everything contained within the precincts of the seraglio [...]. The fourth is devoted to government properly so called [...] to the administration of finance, justice, and war [...]. The judicial organisation, the ministers of religion, its outward practices, Islam itself, constitute the fifth volume [...]. We have drawn upon manuscript and printed translations of Oriental works which M. Langlès was kind enough to communicate to us. The section on arts and trades, for example, is almost entirely translated from a Turkish work" (foreword pp. 14-17).

Where present, the 5 leaves of binder's directions are placed at the end of the first volume. This collation, differing from that of Colas though containing the same texts, is occasionally encountered.

Some foxing, otherwise a pleasing copy in an attractive contemporary decorative binding.

First edition (cf. Barbier, IV, 232. Palau, 260438.)

Contemporary full tawny calf binding, spine in five compartments ruled with gilt garlands and richly decorated with gilt tools, gilt rolls to the caps, a small loss at the foot of the spine, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the edges, lower corners bumped, speckled edges, binding of the period.

Some light foxing.

First edition of the French translation established by Bergier (cf. Atabey 973. Not in Blackmer.)

Bindings in fawn half sheep, smooth spines decorated with gilt friezes, red shagreen title-pieces and green shagreen volume-numbering pieces, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplates pasted on the pastedowns, 19th-century bindings).

Sir James Porter served as ambassador to Constantinople from 1746 to 1762.

A pleasant copy.

First complete collected edition and first illustrated edition. The first edition of Dom Garcie de Navarre, L'Impromptu de Versailles, Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre, Les Amans magnifiques, and La Comtesse d'Escarbagnas. With thirty copper engraved illustrations by Jean Sauvé after Pierre Brassart, 9 of them included in the pagination.
19th-century red full morocco binding, spines with five raised bands, date gilt at foot, double gilt fillets to edges of covers and spine-ends, large inned gilt dentelle, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Bindings signed M. Lortic.

An exceptional copy of the famous 1682 edition housed in a very elegant binding by Marcelin Lortic, who succeeded his father Pierre-Marcellin Lortic - Baudelaire's binder.

Fourth collective edition for the first part and third for the second and third parts, published by Corneille himself. Our copy is adorned with the frontispiece of the first two editions (dated 1645), and the portrait of Corneille by Michel Lasne, dated 1644.

Later bindings in full blue morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, endpapers and pastedowns framed with gilt dentelles of marbled paper, all edges gilt, marbled paper slipcases bordered with morocco, bindings signed by Alix.

Rare and beautiful copy elegantly bound.

First edition displaying all the distinctive features of its publication: it presents no capital letters except at the beginning of paragraphs and it is the very first work to have been printed with Voltaire's spelling. Our copy is complete with its errata leaf, which is often missing.
Later bindings (19th century) in full red morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, dates and places gilt at foot, boards struck at center with large gilt typographical fleurons, double gilt fillets on leading edges and headcaps, pastedowns lined with blue morocco presenting a wide gilt decorative border, monogrammed bookplates mounted on the pastedowns of each volume, following endpapers of combed paper, all edges gilt, bindings signed Chambolle-Duru.
Superb copy perfectly established in a binding signed by a master of French bookbinding.

First edition, posthumous, printed on Holland paper.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf binding, spine in compartments richly decorated, red morocco title label, black morocco volume label, a small loss to the lower joint at the foot, rubbing marks, surface abrasions to the upper cover with a small loss of leather, one corner bumped, marginal loss to the right corner on pages 247 and 257.

Paper generally fresh. This copy has been bound as a single volume, following the 1772 edition of Diderot’s Works in 6 volumes (Volume VI, II).

A good copy.
The introductory text, à la mémoire de Diderot, is by Jakob-Heinrich Meister, a friend of Necker and successor to Frédéric Melchior Grimm at the Correspondance littéraire.
The novel, conceived from 1765 onwards, was first issued in instalments in this journal between 1778 and 1780. The published version, however, is not definitive, as Diderot continued to expand it until his death: the work, which comprised 125 pages in 1771, reached 200 pages in 1778, 208 in 1780, and 287 in 1783. Yet the work was already known in Germany prior to its French publication, thanks to Schiller’s translation (published in 1787 in his journal Thalia). Following this version, Doray de Longrais produced a French version of the same narrative. In 1792, Germany discovered the complete text through a new translation by Mylius. Finally, in 1796, the original text was published in France, based on a copy likely supplied by Grimm or Goethe.
An unclassifiable work, breaking free from all the conventions of the novel, it draws on the picaresque tradition and inherits the freedom of a book that deeply influenced Diderot: Vie et opinions de Tristram Shandy, by Sterne.

First edition (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Sinica, 2772; Chadenat, 912; Barbier, II, 736 d; Brunet, Table, 28267.)

Contemporary half marbled sheep over green parchment corners, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and floral tools, red morocco title labels, pink paste-paper boards.

A small wormtrack at the foot of the spine of the second volume, some rubbing to the spines and boards, light foxing.

The epistle to the Comte de Maurepas is signed Margat, a member of the Society of Jesus, and notes that he was a missionary in Saint-Domingue. However, Barbier and Cordier attribute the work to Father Brumoy.

Tamerlane (or Timur-Leng) was born in 1336 in the Djagatai, at Kech, near Samarkand, and was descended from Genghis Khan through the female line.

In 1360, he succeeded his uncle Seif-Eddin as prince of Kech and chief of the Barlas tribe, under the suzerainty of Tughluq-Timur, khan of the Djagatai. After the latter's death (1363), he seized the region and had himself proclaimed khan (1370). He then embarked upon a series of conquests across Asia: he invaded Persia and the provinces to its north, advanced as far as the Kyrgyz steppe (1390), then turned his arms towards southern Russia, sacked and devastated Azov, before directing his campaign towards India.

In 1398, he crossed the Indus, fought Mahomet IV under the walls of Delhi, took the city, and then the whole of Hindustan. He then turned westward, seized Syria from the Sultan of Egypt (1400), marched on Baghdad which he destroyed, and then confronted the Ottomans, defeating Bajazet in the bloody battle of Ankara (1402), taking the sultan prisoner. Without consolidating his power in Asia Minor, he turned east and marched against China (1404) at the head of more than 200,000 men, dying en route at Otrar, in the khanate of Khokand, in 1405.

An engaging biography of the celebrated conqueror.

Second edition, issued with the date of the original, which bears the imprint of Michallet in Paris (cf. Willems 1899. Blackmer 325 (our edition) and 326 (third, 1679). Atabey 222 (third edition).

Illustrated with a frontispiece and, at the end of the volume, a large folding view of the battle of Khotin.

Full polished brown calf, spine with five raised bands, decorated in blind with fillets and panel compartments, gilt rolls to the spine ends, covers framed with triple fillet and blind palmette tools, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt garland frame to the pastedowns, double gilt fillets to the edges, red-speckled edges, gilt garland frame to the pastedowns, 19th-century binding.

Some rubbing to the spine and to the left margin of the upper cover.

This account is here complete in a single volume.

It focuses both on the political action of two members of the Köprülü family who held the grand vizierate (Mehmed Pasha, from 1656 to 1661; Ahmed Pasha, from 1661 to 1676), under Mehmed IV, and on the defeat inflicted on the Ottoman armies by John Sobieski at the battle of Khotin (Moldavia, 11 November 1673).

Provenance: from the library of G. Lenfant, with his label pasted at the head of a flyleaf as an ex-libris.

First edition, here in its 12mo issue; the 4to edition is more commonly encountered (cf. Sabin 50563. See Gagnon 1217, Lande 656 and Higgs 1032. Not in Kress, Goldsmiths or Einaudi. The NUC records 4 copies of the 4to edition.)

Contemporary half brown sheepskin over boards with vellum tips, spine in five compartments tooled in blind with garland motifs, paper-covered boards, red-speckled edges; an old binding with a later spine.

"A review of the causes of Anglo-French hostilities in America, from a French point of vue, and with the intention of persuading the Dutch correspondent of England's aggressiveness" Cf. James Ford Bell Library catalogue, p. 359.

The work was attributed to Jacob-Nicolas Moreau by Joseph Sabin, although this attribution has not been adopted by French catalogues.

This pamphlet contains an important refutation of The British Merchant, or, Commerce preserved, an English periodical published by C. King which began to appear in 1513-1514 and was reprinted in 1753 in Dresden and Paris.

There also exists a large-paper 4to edition printed in Paris at the same date, and by La Rive. Bibliographers disagree as to the precedence to be accorded to either issue; in fact, it has never been clearly established. The compiler of the James Ford Bell Library catalogue describes our issue as "another edition", whereas the NUC lists it first.

This 4to issue appears in fact to be considerably less scarce.

Be that as it may, the work constitutes a valuable source on the economic causes of the conflict between France and England in Canada, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, which would prove fatal to the first French colonial empire.

Bound at the end: "Parallèle de la conduite du Roi avec celle du Roi d'Angleterre, Electeur d'Hanovre, relativement aux affaires de l'Empire, & nommément à la rupture de la capitulation de Closter-Seven par les Hanovriens" printed in Paris at the Imprimerie royale in 1758 (xlviij and 138 pp.).

12mo issue (another 8vo issue was published simultaneously) of this official propaganda tract, setting out and explaining the French position following the renewed participation of Hanoverian troops in the conflict.

Following the battle of Hastenbeck (26 July 1757), won by Marshal d’Estrées against the Anglo-Hanoverian forces commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, the Convention of Kloster-Zeven (9 September 1757) was signed, providing for a cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of Hanoverian troops to Stade and beyond the Elbe, and the return home of the Hessian and Brunswick contingents. Citing the depredations committed by Marshal de Richelieu’s troops in Hanover, the Court of London never ratified the Convention, which enabled it to redeploy the Hanoverian forces immediately after Rossbach.

Provenance: from the library of a member of the Bauffremont-Courtenay family in the 19th century, with armorial bookplates laid down on the front endpapers (cf. OHR 2443), and a bookseller’s label pasted above one of the ex-libris.

A fine and substantial group relating to the Vaudreuil family, of considerable importance in the history of the French colonies, both in Canada and in Saint-Domingue.

The work is illustrated, at the beginning of the volume, with a folding genealogical table printed hors-texte.

Contemporary full marbled sheep binding, spine in six compartments gilt and tooled with floral motifs, red morocco title-piece, rubbing to the joints and restorations to the spine, gilt arms stamped at the centres of the boards, minor losses and abrasions to the boards, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, marbled edges, an early binding.

The folding plate at the beginning of the volume is torn and stained; light marginal dampstaining at the end of the volume.

The article devoted to the Rigaud de Vaudreuil family by Charles d'Hozier in his celebrated Armorial is authenticated by his printed signature as Juge d'Armes de la Noblesse de France.

It has been subsequently bound with a small manuscript note extracted from the Noblesse de France aux Croisades concerning the family, bearing the arms of Joseph-Hyacinthe-François de Paule de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1740-1817), known as the comte de Vaudreuil, son of Joseph-Hyacinthe, marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of the French part of the island of Saint-Domingue from 1753 to 1757, himself Grand Falconer of France, created Knight of the Saint-Esprit in 1784 (OHR, pl. 1825, with variant).

He was a close friend of the comte d'Artois.

Several pieces have been added to the copy:

• a list of lands formerly held by my house, numbered, together with a list of names of men and of ladies and young ladies (3 manuscript pp., 8vo and 12mo, 18th century).
• - a statement of the properties of the comte de Vaudreuil in Saint-Domingue according to his correspondence with the comte d'Artois (1 manuscript p., 8vo, on blue paper, 19th century). It mentions the marquis de Vaudreuil, brother of the comte de Vaudreuil, born at Quebec on 26 June 1706, Governor General of Saint-Domingue from 1749 to 1757. It is also noted: fit la conquête du Sénégal en 1778.
• - a manuscript leaf concerning the relics of Saint Victoire Martine (late 19th century) together with the corresponding printed certificate of the bishop Constantin of Albania, dated 1850.

New edition of the French translation, this one by Abbé Pluquet (see Cordier, Sinica 1395-1396).

Contemporary half tan calf bindings over corners, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets, black calf title-pieces, some rubbing to spines and headcaps, marbled paper boards with some surface wear, a few corners slightly bumped, speckled edges, period bindings.

This French translation of Father François Noël’s Latin work includes the Observations on the moral and political philosophy of the Chinese legislators, The Great Learning, or the Science of Adults, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Book of Sentences, Meng Tsee or The Book of Mencius, Hiao-king, or The Book of Filial Piety, and Siao-hio or The Book of the School of Children.

Born in Hestrud in the North of France in 1651, the Jesuit Father François Noël departed for China in 1684, where he spent the greater part of his life.

He was twice deputed to Rome on matters concerning the Chinese rites and spent his final years in Lille, where he died in 1729. 

First edition illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece by J. Goeree engraved on copper, as well as a copper-engraved armorial vignette at the opening of the text (cf. Barbier, III, 560. Quérard, III, 212. Not held at the BnF. Not recorded in Fossati Bellani.)

Contemporary half tawny calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes and blind-stamped fleurons now almost entirely faded, red morocco title label, a restoration to the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, early 19th-century binding,

A small black ink stain to a blank endpaper.

The work discusses, among other subjects, the Republic’s losses in Greece, the battles of Lepanto and the Dardanelles, Cyprus, the Morea (Peloponnese), Corfu (besieged by Suleiman), Dalmatia, Constantinople, Venetian trade, and competition with the Portuguese in the Indies.

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 Cochin hospital and at the Hôtel Dieu and lectured extensively on obstetrics with the intention of simplifying the teaching of the subject (e.g. on the anatomy of the fetus, the mechanics of birth, etc.).
A very attractive copy of this rare and magisterial atlas of obstetrics in a remarkable strictly contemporary binding.

Second edition, a reprint of the first folio edition published in 1756 by the same publisher. A rare edition, illustrated with 40 plates including 4 folding and 16 double-page (arms, costumes, plans, manoeuvres...). Large vignette with coat of arms on the title-page, and 41 ornaments (headpieces, tailpieces). Title-page printed in red and black. At the end, Supplement aux Reveries, with its own title-page; this short addition, spanning only a few pages, contains the corrections made to the original. A two-volume quarto edition appeared in Paris in 1757.
Bound in later full marbled brown calf; a skilful early 20th-century pastiche signed Saingy at foot. Spine with raised bands richly decorated, gilt rolls at head and tail. Red morocco lettering-piece, black morocco date-piece gilt. Rubbing to head- and tailcaps, edges, corners, and lower board. Plate XXXIV has been refolded, having been badly folded. An exceptionally fresh copy, the paper only slightly toned. One leaf misbound among the preliminary pages. A handsome copy.

First edition, superbly illustrated with 50 engraved and hand-coloured plates, all numbered and signed by William Ellis. Bilingual text, first in English, followed by the French translation on facing pages. Printed on deluxe wove paper.
English binding. Spine entirely rebacked in chocolate shagreen, decorated with five blind-stamped romantic floral tools. Brown calf boards adorned with a large central lozenge composed of leafy friezes. Blind-stamped border frieze with corner tools, and a second leafy border. Upper board split along the joint and nearly detached, lower joint open at the foot over 5 cm, with a continuing crack of 10 cm though the leather remains closed. Corners heavily worn and exposed. Endpapers reinforced at the centre with green adhesive. Light offsetting from most plates onto the facing leaf. Internally clean and crisp throughout.

Pirate edition of 1812, imprint dated 1796. It features the exact pagination of the genuine 1796 edition, as well as the 13 plates and 2 frontispieces by Monnet, Mlle Gérard and Fragonard fils engraved by Baquoy, Duplessi-Bertaux, Dupréel, Godefroy, Langlois, Lemire, Lingée, Masquelier, Patas, Pauquet, Simonet and Trière. The pirate edition is identified by the letters “R. p. D.” in the plates' lower margins, as they have been retouched by Delvaux. In addition, the fillet preceding the date on the title-page is wavy, and the title is presented in seven lines rather than eight.

Bound in full morocco, slight rubbing on the corners, all edges gilt, splendid binding signed by Hardy.

A very fine copy in a magnificent decorated full morocco binding by Hardy.

First edition of this pioneering work in the history of psychiatry (cf. Garrison & Morton 4920; Semelaigne I, pp. 68-73; Waller records only the 1770 German translation; Wellcome III 547; Blake 277).

Contemporary half calf with vellum-tipped corners, smooth spines gilt with decorative rolls, some rubbing and small wormholes to the spines, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges; bindings from the early nineteenth century.

Ink stains on pp. 72–76 of the first volume, a black ink spot at the head of the lower cover of the second volume, a few minor and unobtrusive foxmarks.

For Lorry, not all melancholic patients are driven by a single fixed idea, and melancholy is a state of mental disorder of physical origin, in which the mind—sharply disturbed by objects either external or produced by the imagination—becomes unable to resist, repel, or reason through the ideas arising from them. He identifies two forms of the condition, according to whether its origin lies in the solid parts or in the humours, which he terms nervous melancholy and humoral melancholy respectively.

"La mélancolie nerveuse peut parfois constituer l'hystérie chez la femme, l'hypochondrie chez l'homme ; ou bien c'est la manie vraie, ou encore, sans le moindre symptôme maniaque, elle consiste uniquement en convulsions. Il semble y avoir peu de différences entre la mélancolie et la manie, mais le mélancolique délire surtout sur ce qui le concerne en particulier, tandis que le délire maniaque s'étend à tous les sujets". Cf. Semelaigne.

Lorry (1726–1783) may also be regarded as the founder of dermatology in France (Tractatus de morbis cutaneis, Paris, G. Cavelier, 1777).

A pleasant copy, with generous margins.

Rare first edition under this title, complete with the engraved title-page. The first edition of 1607, Remonstrance faicte au Roy Très Chrétien pour la réunion des religions à la foy catholique, was printed in Tournon in only 96 pages. This second edition, of which there were probably two issues from the same bookseller, was substantially revised and enlarged by the author.

Contemporary limp vellum with turn-ins, smooth spine, faded ink manuscript title to spine, original ties present, red speckled edges. Bookplate of the lawyer V[ictor] Duchâtaux, a bibliophile of the second half of the 19th century, to front pastedown. Manuscript ownership inscription dated 1661 at foot of engraved title-page.

Two tiny ink spots on pp. 57 and 209 affecting one letter each, small marginal wormhole on p. 417 not affecting text, a fine copy.

On p. 58, the passage "not in the traditions of the Roman Church! but in their own Bible, which I made the judge of all my designs, and the rule of my will" (our own translation) is underlined in brown ink, probably in the same hand as the ownership inscription.

First edition, completed at the end of the volume with a folding table printed off text (cf. Sabin 28336; Howes 318).

Bound in full flexible beige boards, the manuscript spine title clumsily restored with an adhesive strip and now largely faded; sprinkled red edges.

A dampstain affecting the upper right corner of the opening leaves; a few scattered foxmarks.

The folding table bound at the end of the volume is not recorded by Sabin. It summarises the key geographical data for each state (natural resources, population in 1790 and 1810, universities and colleges, representation in Congress, etc.).

Father Giovanni Grassi of the Society of Jesus spent several years in Georgetown, where he served as rector of the seminary.

First edition, published anonymously by Delaporte,  secretary and prompter of the Comédie-Française.

Contemporary black cloth Bradel binding, smooth spine, red shagreen lettering-piece with some loss, marbled paper boards, upper corners slightly worn, 19th-century binding.

Copies recorded only at the BnF and in Rouen (CCFr).

Printed initials at the foot of the title page.

Rare summary, by the Comédie-Française secretary and prompter, of the grievances held by the Company against the actor Talma, focusing particularly on performances of Marie-Joseph Chénier’s play Charles IX.

The play, which achieved immense public success, drew criticism from the Gallican Church, leading to its ban after the 33rd performance.

On July 21, 1790, the play was performed again in defiance of the ban. The Comédie-Française troupe then split between the "revolutionaries" and the other shareholders, who refused to perform with Talma.

First edition of this Latin work devoted to the history of the ancient Mediterranean: Sardinia and the influences of Greece, North Africa, the Syrtes and Numidian tribes, the history of the tyrant of Syracuse, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, the island of Rhodes, and more (cf. Adams, L-704. See Durling, 2796, which records only later editions).

Restored full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt tools now largely softened, blind fillets and gilt corner ornaments framing the boards, central gilt medallion enclosing a device in Greek characters, manuscript inscription on the fore-edge, early binding.

Ink numbering at the head of the verso of the lower cover; inner hinge cracked.

Handsome volume from the Basel press of Johannes Froben, bearing his printer’s device on the title-page and at the end.

Nicknamed “the prince of printers,” Johann Froben was among the first to employ italic types, inspired by Aldus Manutius.

A professor of philosophy, Greek, and Latin at the University of Padua, the Venetian scholar Tomeo Nicolò Leonico (1456–1531) was admired by Erasmus.

Rare first edition.

Our copy is issued in its original state, unbound and preserved in wrappers.

Not recorded by Oberlé. Only two copies located in the CCFr (Cherbourg and Montpellier).

Alexandre Lesdos (1813-1865) was a member of the Société d'Agriculture and of the Société Académique de Cherbourg.

In this work, he devotes an entire chapter to the wines of Saint-Émilion, noted for their "bouquet as delicate as that of the violet." (our own translation)

First edition of this paean to intoxication, adorned with a charming engraved frontispiece depicting Bacchus seated on a barrel, holding a wine cup in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other.

Cf. Vicaire 326. Bitting 415. Barbier II, 75 d. Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique, 523 (for the 1798 ed.).

Bound in contemporary fawn half-calf with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, corners slightly worn, edges speckled red.

This work abounds with anecdotes and quotations drawn from the history of many lands. It asserts "that wine gives wit," offers "a catalogue of some illustrious drinkers," and claims "that wine wins us friends & reconciles us with our enemies," or again "that it is good for one’s health to get drunk now and then," though one must not "carry drunkenness too far." Born into a family of Protestant refugees,

Albert-Henri de Sallengre (The Hague, 1694–1723) was a lawyer at the Court of Holland, advisor to the Prince of Orange, and financial commissioner for the States General of the United Provinces.

Minor brown spot to the right margin of the first leaves, a few ink annotations and a stamp on the slightly soiled white endpapers.

A pleasing and rare copy.

Provenance: from the library of Fridrich Otto de Munchhausen, with his engraved bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.

First edition, with a single copy recorded in the CCF (Dijon).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers and housed in a plain blue interim cover, with a mounted title label at the head of the spine.

Some foxing.

The sole edition of this compilation, conceived primarily for fiscal purposes: indirect taxes at the time were levied chiefly on beverages.

The bookseller Louis Rondonneau (1759–1834) is renowned as the author, compiler, or editor of numerous legal codes, manuals, collections, and repertories of legislation and jurisprudence.

First edition printed in two columns, one in French and the other in Italian.

Not recorded by Starace or Roland Bonaparte.

Contemporary limp vellum-style boards, smooth unlettered spine; covers soiled.

Some scattered foxing; one quire working loose.

Third edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, issued in temporary blue paper wrappers, with some losses to the corners and a mounted title label on the spine.

Some light foxing.

Pierre-Auguste Mutel (1795–1847) entered the École Polytechnique in 1813, graduating 34th in the class of 1815, and went on to serve in the artillery corps.

Manuscript ex-libris of Becquerel, dated 24 October 1833; it is difficult to determine which member of this illustrious family should be associated with this provenance.

Letter written by a secretary and signed by Louis XVI, addressed to Cardinal Ludovico Calini, in ink over eleven lines. The signature of Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, appearing at the foot of the bifolium, accompanies that of the King for these New Year wishes. The recipient's name is inscribed on the verso: "Mon Cousin le Cardinal Calino".

A few waterstains, a small hole at "qu'il vous ait".

"My Cousin, I have seen with pleasure from your letter of October 1st the token of the sincerity of the wishes you express for me at the beginning of this year. Your good intentions are as well known to me as you must be certain of my desire to give you proof of my esteem and affection. Whereupon I pray God that He may have you, My Cousin, in His holy and worthy keeping. Written at Versailles the 31st of January 1776." (our own translation). 

First edition of the English translation of "De Logomachiis eruditorum" (Amsterdam, 1688) by the Swiss Reformed theologian Samuel Werenfels (1657–1740), a notably engaging essay on the obstacles to concord among Christians created by the endless disputes over the terminology used to define points of belief.

A few small spots of foxing.

Full speckled fawn calf, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools; rubbing to the spine, the gilt title almost entirely effaced, headcaps trimmed down with a small loss to the tailcap; gilt double-fillet border with gilt corner tools on the covers; some wear to the board edges with gilt fillets, corners softened; edges sprinkled red; contemporary binding.

A few small spots of foxing.

Copy from the library of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, bearing his armorial bookplate “Re que Diou” from the Château de Valençay, mounted on the front endpapers.

A highly appealing provenance, given the fundamental scepticism of the former bishop of Autun.

First edition, exceedingly scarce, of this light-hearted and engaging introduction to the principal ancient myths, prepared for a Polish aristocrat. Annopol (today Anopal) is a locality now situated in Belarus.

No copies recorded in the CCF. A single copy located in WorldCat (National Library of Poland, Biblioteka Narodowa, Warsaw).

Contemporary-style half sheep binding in brown, the smooth spine ruled with alternating thick and thin gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns; modern binding.

Losses to the title-page expertly filled and restored; the final two leaves also restored.

First edition, describing 829 entries.

Contemporary half calf, spine with five raised bands showing traces of rubbing, brown calf lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, two small blue spots on the upper cover, wear to the edges, corners softened, red edges, early shelf label pasted at the head of a pastedown.

A few marginal spots, not affecting the text.

Born in Antwerp to a family of Spanish origin, Jean-François de Los Rios (1727–1820) practised as a bookseller in Paris (1745), then in Lyon (1760), where—despite opposition—he was entrusted with the conduct of public book auctions. He was the one who purchased the Jesuit college library after the suppression of the Order.

He left Lyon only in 1812 and died in Mechelen, nearly a centenarian.

Third edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged with several important Additions by the author published posthumously, and with Remarks by the Translator (our own translation), with the portrait of John Locke by Godfrey Kneller, engraved by François Morellon de La Cave.

Contemporary full brown calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, brown morocco lettering-piece, triple fillet border to covers in blind, red edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Headcaps missing, surface losses to covers and one larger loss to upper left corner of back cover, corners bumped and worn, rubbing to edges with a small loss at foot of front cover, ink gift inscription to first blank leaf.

In this copy: light marginal dampstaining to early leaves and to pp. 53-58 and pp. 463-472, not affecting text.

This volume is enriched with ink annotations: "n°23 =" to verso of front free endpaper, another inscription to recto of second endpaper, and several ink corrections to margins and text at pp. 3, 125, 127, 148, and 269.

First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).

Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.

Bound at the end:

• 1. Suite de la cinquième expérience, contenant la seconde lettre de M. de la Galaisière & celle que M. Bertin m'a fait l'honneur de m'écrire à son occasion. S.l.n.d., 2 ll. unnumbered.
• 2. Suite des expériences de la nouvelle manipulation des vins. Seconde partie. S.l.n.d. [Paris, April 1781], 30 pp., with an unnumbered leaf of receipt.

Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain morocco, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets, date gilt at foot, cat's-eye patterned paper boards, bookplate mounted at the head of one pastedown; modern binding.

Spine and lower cover marginally faded and sunning, light upper-marginal dampstaining.

Rare first edition illustrated with 10 folding plates, including 5 grammatical tables and 5 plates of calligraphy.

Not recorded in Blackmer, Atabey or Hage Chahine.

Half olive-green calf, spine with four raised bands framed with gilt garlands and decorated with small blind-stamped floral tools, black morocco title and author labels, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.

Spine slightly darkened, small paper losses to the upper right corners of the first leaves not affecting the text, some foxing mainly at the end of the volume. Much better known for his role in the mission sent by Napoleon to the Shah of Persia to negotiate a counter-alliance against Turkey, Amédée Jaubert (1779–1847) was a distinguished orientalist, professor of Persian at the Collège de France, and of Turkish at the École des langues orientales, of which he became president in 1838.

First edition of this pamphlet devoted to the largest marshland in Italy, the Fucecchio wetlands.

Illustrated with a double-page engraved plate.

Disbound copy.

From the library of the economist, agronomist, industrialist, and lithographer Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie du Saillant (1759–1849), with his ownership stamp on the title-page.

First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).

Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.

Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.

Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.

“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective descriptions it provides of Indigenous life (…) The work is also of great value for its extensive lists of terms used by the Inuit, the Agniers, the Algonquins, the Mohegans, the Chaouanons and the Saulteaux.” Cf. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, IV, pp. 524–525.

First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.

His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.

Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.

Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript ex-libris inscriptions “Cousturier, Prieur de Champsanglard [Creuse]” and “Denesmond, prêtre” on the title-page of the first volume.

The booklet is followed, as very often with this title, by two short agronomic treatises, which vary from one copy to another.

In this copy:

• 1. A new edition of the Instruction pour le jardin potager (1678), attributed to an Aristote “jardinier de Puteaux”—obviously not his real name—who authored several small works on fruit trees and flowers (Musset-Pathay, 806).
• 2. A summary of the Nouvelle instruction pour connoistre les bons fruits (1670), attributed sometimes to Jean Merlet, sometimes to Claude Saint-Etienne. At the end is an interesting Catalogue des poires selon les mois de les manger (from July to September). Cf. Musset-Pathay 1390. Manuscript ex-libris inscriptions “Cousturier, Prieur de Champsanglard [Creuse]” and “Denesmond, prêtre”.

First edition of these observations and proposed reforms concerning the Navy. Pierre-Alexandre Forfait (1752–1807) served as Minister of the Navy from November 1799 to October 1801.

Contemporary full fawn calf, mottled and polished, smooth spine tooled with gilt decorative compartments and false bands, red shagreen lettering-piece, joints lightly rubbed, boards framed with delicate gilt rolls, a few abrasions and small losses to the leather at the lower edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, all edges gilt, a period binding.

Pierre-Alexandre Forfait (1752–1807) served as Minister of the Navy from November 1799 to October 1801.

Forfait and Bonaparte met in Venice around 1798, and it was he who "forma" the future Emperor in the principles of naval warfare that Napoleon would later wage against England.

In this pamphlet, he characterises the English in the following terms « … ces dominateurs des mers ne donneront jamais le temps nécessaire pour recréer et former une marine par les moyens ordinaires, la navigation marchande ou la pêche … Comptez qu'ils vous déclareront toujours la guerre, ou vous la feront sans la déclarer, avant que vos forces navales aient pu atteindre son degré de développement qui puisse les inquiéter ».

The plan of 21 July 1803, in which the flotilla was to operate without the support of the Navy, clearly demonstrates the deep influence Forfait’s ideas had on Bonaparte.

However, the group formed by Decrès, Ganteaume, Bruix and Villeneuve during the Egyptian campaign exerted a powerful influence on Napoleon; and Decrès ultimately succeeded in definitively supplanting Forfait.

Provenance: manuscript ex-libris of Decrès mounted on a pastedown; he succeeded the author as Minister of the Navy and remained in office until 1814.

Rare first edition of this small opus, traditionally regarded as constituting the fourth part (of five) of the *Euphormionis Satyricon*, an allegorical satire of the tastes of King James I, and the author’s second most important work after his *Argenis* (cf. Brunet I, 652.)

Full brown calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with gilt floral tools, cherry-calf lettering piece, headcaps restored, trace of a shelving label at the foot of the spine, single blind fillet framing the boards, gilt fillets to board edges, lower corners rubbed, sprinkled edges, slightly later binding.

Loss restored to the title-page, which also bears two ink annotations; edges slightly trimmed.

The first part appeared under the London imprint in 1605, the second in 1607 under the Paris imprint, and the third in 1611 under the title “Apologia Euphormionis pro se”.

However, these last two texts are not works of fiction and are only loosely connected to the first two parts.

The present work, which may be rendered as Icon animorum, is in fact an essay offering, from life, a description and classification of the traits that mark both the differences and the affinities among Europeans.

Barclay examines their inner and outward signs, stemming sometimes from the conditions of human nature and education, sometimes from national character and from social or professional determinants.

Here the European man receives one of his earliest and most contrasted definitions, blending history and geography, culture and secularized religious ideals, in a treatise that eludes generic classification, abounds in stylistic gems, and compels today’s reader to reflect on his own preconceptions.

First edition (cf. Martin & Walter, 16 491; Monglond III, 630; not in Schefer, Blackmer or Atabey).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with a vertically lettered fawn sheepskin label, red edges; a modern binding.

Some foxing; marginal staining to the upper edges of the final leaves.

Excellent abridgement of General Hénin de Cuvillers’ diplomatic mission to Constantinople (1793–1795).

Upon his return from Turkey, Hénin (born 1755) took part in the Italian campaign of 1796 and was wounded at Caldiero and Arcole.

Appointed in 1802 as assistant to the general staff in Saint-Domingue, he was entrusted by Rochambeau with the colony’s military archives, which he brought back to Paris in 1804.

His military career under the Empire ended in 1813, when he was required to justify himself before the Grenoble court martial following the evacuation of the Simplon, deemed too hasty.

Granted retirement in 1815, he lived until 1841.

The 164 dispatches summarised in this volume provide valuable insights into diplomatic life in Constantinople, relations with the Revolutionary government, news from the Asian trading posts, the situation in the Levant, and maritime and military affairs.

This work is in fact the reissue of the original edition, published under a new title: the 1772 edition was entitled "Dissertation sur les vins".

One hundred blank leaves have been bound at the end of the text.

The work saw an expanded edition in 1782, which was subsequently reprinted. (Cf. Simon BG: 510. Not recorded by Vicaire, Oberlé, or Bitting. Lacking from the Kilian Fritsch Collection.)

Contemporary half mottled tawny sheep with vellum-tipped corners, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, marbled paper sides, red edges.

An important treatise on vinification by a former wine merchant’s employee who had worked in France, England, and Holland.

The volume details the methods then used to preserve and improve wines, as well as to treat those that had spoiled. One chapter is devoted to the manner of making wines in Champagne (pp. 135–179). It is also, however, a veritable compendium of “fraudulent recipes”…

An open invitation to fraud, so much so that the censor responsible for granting approval was visibly unsettled: this dissertation "contient les formules suivant lesquelles on sophistique les vins, cependant on peut le laisser imprimer, parce qu'elle n'apprend aux frelateurs de vins que ce qu'ils savent bien faire et qu'elle fait connaître au public qui et prévenu, que les vins frelatés sont dangereux et les moyens qu'on emploie pour le tromper". [D. Denis, Histoire socio-économique de la vigne et du vin.]

Extremely scarce Toulon printing, illustrated with in-text figures and tables.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

Contemporary half brown sheep, the faded smooth spine gilt with fillets, garlands and floral tools, marbled paper boards slightly sunned at the head-margins, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

A tear without loss to the foot of the half-title.

A professor at Franeker and later at Amsterdam, Jan Hendrik van Swinden (1746–1823) was the most renowned Dutch physicist of the eighteenth century.

Rare first edition, illustrated with two vignettes: one on the title page and another at the head of the opening text leaf (cf. Backer & Sommervogel VII, 185, no. 58.)

See Brunet, "Recherches sur les imprimeries imaginaires, clandestines et particulières", p. 19.

Printed on the private presses of the Turin Court of Appeal, the work offers a detailed account of the miraculous phenomena reported in Rome between July 1796 and January 1797. The author rebuts, in particular, the sceptical reactions of the "fiers à bras du philosophisme".

Our copy is preserved in its original drab paper wrappers, the spine cracked, the covers soiled, a few spots, a pale dampstain at the head of the first leaves, and an inked stamp on the title-page.

Jean-Joseph Rossignol, born in Vallouise or La Pisse (Hautes-Alpes) on 3 July 1726, entered the Society of Jesus in 1742. He taught the classics, rhetoric, and philosophy at Marseille and, after the suppression in France (1762), at Vilna, where he directed the observatory. After 1773 he joined the Collegio dei Nobili in Milan, where he taught physics and mathematics for eighteen years. He died in Turin in 1817.

First edition of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.

Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.

From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.

New edition, partly original, revised, corrected and enlarged.

Bound in full red morocco, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands and compartments adorned with crowned “LL” monograms, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillets framing the covers, gilt armorial stamps of Louis XV at the centre of each board, gilt dentelle border on the turn-ins, gilt fillets along the edges, marbled edges. Slightly rubbed corners. Contemporary bindings.

Some leaves slightly yellowed, minor paper flaw on page 101 of the second volume.

Extensive and highly useful table of contents at the end of the second volume. Jean-Antoine Soulatges, lawyer at the Parliament of Toulouse, who died in that city around 1780, was also the author of a Traité des crimes.

A handsome copy, in red morocco, bearing the cipher and arms of Louis XV (OHR pl. 2495, tools 12 and 30).

Original edition reprinted at Smyrna (in reality Versailles), under the supervision of Mr. John Strafford (in fact by Moutardier); (cf. Quérard VI, 576; Drujon, Livres à clefs, I, 625.)

Contemporary half mottled fawn sheep, smooth spine tooled with gilt hatched fillets, brick-coloured sheep lettering-piece, a few small losses to the spine, yellow edges sprinkled with blue.

Sole edition of this manifestly pseudepigraphic and encrypted work, suppressed by order of the Consular government, which accounts for its marked scarcity.

A vehement critique of prevailing political and social institutions; however, it appears very difficult to connect the author with the renowned Lille bookselling dynasty of the same period.

First edition of this periodical, comprising for the complete year 1781 (from 2 January to 28 December) 104 issues, the text printed in two columns with continuous pagination.

Contemporary half calf, mottled fawn, smooth spines decorated with gilt compartment tooling and floral ornaments, beige calf lettering-pieces and blue calf volume labels; minor losses and rubbing to spines and joints, a few scuffs to the blue paper boards, bumped corners, red edges; bindings contemporary to publication.

Transposition of ff. 357–58 and 359–60; initials in black ink and numbering to the endpapers; bookplate affixed and marginally torn in the first volume, another bookplate covered over in the second.

A biweekly periodical founded in June 1776, published until December 1792.

Its contributors included Serres de la Tour, Théveneau de Morande, and Brissot—already well-known publicists and scarcely “ministerial,” as was then said. Printed in England for readerships on both sides of the Channel, though primarily intended to inform a French audience about English institutions, it was avidly read in Paris, especially throughout the Anglo-French war over the American colonies. Along its columns one finds exceptionally rich documentation on that conflict (relative strengths, reports of naval and land engagements, debates in the English Parliament, diplomatic negotiations, etc.). Yet this was not its sole interest: what especially captured French readers of the Courier during this period of anglomania—and what chiefly accounts for the periodical’s value—were its detailed accounts of major English parliamentary sessions, together with numerous articles translated from and drawn from English and American newspapers.

Very rare first edition, illustrated in each volume with a copper-engraved frontispiece by Tardieu after Monnet.

Half black grained cloth bindings, smooth spines decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper boards with light rubbing, sprinkled edges, modest late 19th-century bindings.

Some foxing and a few pale waterstains at the end of the second volume.

This work is an essay whose concerns are strikingly close to our own, though expressed in a very different context.

A founder of French ecological thought, the civil engineer François-Antoine Rauch (1762–1837) demonstrated the direct relationship between deforestation and the increase in extreme weather, calling for the preservation of nature in the interest of humankind. He denounced the large-scale clearing of forests undertaken across continents and advocated the restoration and protection of woodland areas.

In the same spirit, he defended wetlands and marshes, to be made healthy without being drained. The first volume is almost entirely devoted to the dangers and imbalances caused by deforestation; the second focuses on the regeneration of rivers and streams, as well as the drainage of marshes, the whole promoting a return to the “primordial harmony.”

A rare first edition, of which no subsequent reprint exists, complete with all his Neo-Latin poems, chiefly composed in Rome. The volume also contains two Greek poems at ff. 60 and 62, together with a poem which inspired the celebrated sonnet Happy he who like Ulysses.

Modern binding in full limp vellum, smooth spine, red edges, white pastedowns and endleaves.

Some defects within: discreet restoration to inner margin of title verso; small tear without loss at foot of ff. 2-3; dampstaining to lower margin of ff. 25-28 and 45-48; minimal marginal defect to f. 44, not affecting text.

Published in March 1558, this precious copy contains four books of Latin poems - Elegiæ, Varia Epigr[ammata], Amores [Faustinae], Tumuli - written by Du Bellay in Rome and Paris between 1553 and 1557. The collection, also referred to as Poemata or Œuvres latines, appeared in the same year as three other works from his Roman period: Les Regrets, Divers Jeux Rustiques, and Les Antiquitez de Rome.

Very rare first edition of the new laws enacted in 1775 by Catherine II, Empress of Russia, here translated into Turkish for the recently annexed Turkic-speaking provinces taken from the Ottoman Empire.

The work is divided into two parts: the first, dated 12 November 1775, comprises the first 28 chapters (pp. 1–190); the second contains chapters 29 to 31 (pp. 191–248).

Contemporary-style half mottled sheep with small corners, unlettered spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt thistle tools, marbled paper boards, red edges, modern binding.

Pale marginal dampstaining to the upper right corner of the initial leaves.

Very rare edition (cf. Saffroy III, 35 251).

Disbound copy, with a faint dampstain in the left margin of the title-page and a few insignificant spots of foxing.

This separately published tract was later inserted into the first volume of the celebrated *Histoire généalogique de la maison d’Auvergne* (1708).

Appended here, detached from the first volume and forming the origin of the controversy: [BALUZE, MABILLON et RUINART]: Procez verbal. Contenant l'examen & discussion de deux anciens cartulaires & de l'obituaire de l'église de saint Julien de Brioude en Auvergne, de neuf anciens titres compris en sept feüillets de parchemin, & de dix autres anciens feüillets aussi en parchemin, contenant des fragmens de deux tables, l'une par ordre des chiffres, & l'autre par alphabet, lesquels ont esté destachez d'un ancien cartulaire de la mesme église. Le tout pour faire voir que Géraud de la Tour, I. du nom, duc de Guyenne & comte d'Auvergne, comme il paroist par la table généalogique qui suit. Printed in Paris by Théodore Muguet, 1695, title-leaf and 22 pp. (cf. Saffroy III, 35 252).

This tract, drafted at the request of Cardinal de Bouillon, was likewise inserted into the *Histoire généalogique de la maison d’Auvergne*.

First collected edition of the works by the author of Les Étourdis ou le Mort supposé, a comedy that enjoyed great success just before the Revolution.

The set includes a portrait frontispiece in the first volume, four engraved plates, and ten engraved headpieces.

Bound in contemporary full polished and mottled brown calf, gilt decoration, smooth spines with six false raised bands highlighted with gilt fillets and repeated gilt floral tools, gilt fillet frames on covers bordered with a garland roll, gilt tooling to head- and tailpieces, green morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges on boards, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.

Some foxing to a few leaves of volume IV and to the endpapers, with minor surface abrasions to the covers.

Poet and playwright F.-G.-J.-S. Andrieux (1759–1833) was for a time drawn to politics under the Consulate.

He is remembered for his famous retort to Bonaparte, who reproached him for his opposition in the Tribunate: « Citoyen Premier Consul, on ne s'appuie que sur ce qui résiste ».

In literature, however, his ultra-classical tastes prevented him from recognizing the genius of Balzac, of whom he said, after hearing Cromwell: « Ce jeune homme doit faire quoi que ce soit, excepté de la littérature ». A splendid copy in Bradel-Derome le jeune bindings (cf. Coligny, Bradel-Derome, type A-T2), bearing a printed label on the pastedown of the first volume and, beneath it, the bookplate of the library of Vicomte E. de Bourbon-Busset (1799–1863).

First edition of this study in political economy.

Three copies listed in OCLC, all in the United States. BMC records only the second edition (London, 1809).

"Sur quelle base reposent les gouvernements, les lois, les peuples, les autorités, les souverainetés, les partages, les propriétés, les distinctions, les inégalités : voilà le problème important dont on s'occupera dans cet ouvrage."

Some small losses of paper to the spines and corners, rear cover of the first volume soiled, a pleasant, clean interior.

Rare copy preserved in its original grey wrappers.

Very rare first edition, bilingual, quarto in format and printed on laid paper, of the Corsican cahier de doléances.

(Cf. Starace 4747. Not in Roland Bonaparte. Conlon, xxiv, 89:1617, who notes only the 32-page octavo edition. No copy located in CCF or Worldcat.)

Our copy is preserved in a plain grey paper wrapper, with minor internal flaws, a few discreet paper restorations to the lower right margin of the opening leaves, not affecting the text.

"Les cahiers des Tiers, en même temps que des mesures spécifiques, exigent les mêmes réformes que le reste du royaume. Cette imbrication du régional et du national est jalonnée d'événements illustrant la dynamique révolutionnaire: agitation lors des assemblées primaires, émeute de Bastia le 1er mai 1789, "révolution municipale" du mois d'août à l'annonce du 14 Juillet parisien et sous le signe de la cocarde tricolore..." Soboul, Dict. hist. de la Révolution française.

Among the specific measures requested are the following: authorisation for Corsican vessels to fly the Moor’s Head on the French white ensign (as several towns and provinces of the kingdom already displayed their own arms); establishment of a university at Corte funded by the former revenues of the Carthusians, Jacobins, and Olivetans; establishment of a lazaretto to facilitate trade with the Levant; creation of a free port; preference in appointments to be given to Corsicans or to French inhabitants established on the island, etc.

Light foxing to the lower and upper right corners of the leaves, not affecting the text.

A well-preserved and appealing copy.

Very rare first edition.

Our copy is offered disbound.

It was as part of his philanthropic concerns that Piarron de Chamousset (1717–1773), who in fact practised medicine without holding any formal qualification, sought to establish the first mutual-aid association, comprising a dispensary, medical staff, and premises to accommodate the sick.

This text was later reprinted in the collection Vues d'un citoyen (Paris, Lambert, 1757). By the same author, we also offer following it: "Lettre à l'auteur de la critique du Plan d'une maison d'association".

S.l.n.d. [1754], 14 pp.

Second edition, largely original, as it is considerably expanded (cf. Caillet 2273).

This edition is not cited by Quérard. Not in Blake. NUC: 3 copies.

Rare copy preserved in its original pink wrappers with printed spine label, untrimmed; covers slightly worn with a few corner losses, spine splitting at foot.

The first edition, published anonymously and without publisher’s address, appeared in 1784 [i.e. 1785].

"C'est dans cet ouvrage que le marquis de Puységur fit connaître la découverte qu'il venait de faire (mai 1784) des phénomènes qu'il désigna sous le nom de somnambulisme artificiel. Plusieurs cures importantes minutieusement observées et dûment certifiées, sont relatées dans ces Mémoires indispensables à consulter. L'arbre magnétisé qui fit tant de bruit a sa page historique. L'auteur, l'un des hommes les plus honorables et les plus bienfaisants de son temps, a sans doute émis sur certaines parties de la science en général des idées que celle-ci ne peut accepter aujourd'hui ; mais on ne peut lui refuser une connaissance réelle de ce que l'on savait alors de l'électricité, et personne n'a su mieux tirer parti des ressources offertes par le somnambulisme artificiel" [Caillet].

A good, uncut copy in its original wrappers.

First edition.

Half calf binding with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and dentelle rolls, an old red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges; a modern binding.

A few passages unfortunately underlined in red ballpoint pen on several leaves (around ten in total), a light marginal dampstain on the first two leaves, modern bookplate pasted on a pastedown.

Only edition, uncommon, of this unexpected work: the Dauphinois Claude-Pierre de Delay d'Agier (1750–1827) was above all a political figure of the Revolution and the Empire, mayor of Romans in 1789, fully committed to the new ideas. Yet he had attended in Lunéville from 1774 the course in hippiatry given by Lafosse, who became his friend and whom he greatly admired; hence this atypical publication in the author's career.

New edition, revised, corrected, and considerably enlarged.

Contemporary bindings in half mottled fawn calf over corners, smooth spines gilt with fillets, morocco title and volume labels, brown paper-covered boards, sprinkled edges.

Some minor rubbing to the spines, a few corners slightly bumped.

L'Esprit des lois occupies volumes I to IV; La Défense de l'Esprit des lois volume V (with a general index); Lettres persanes volume VI; volume VII gathers the Considérations and related pieces; volume VIII contains the posthumous works.

This collected edition of Montesquieu's works offers no particular bibliographical peculiarities in its contents but constitutes a very rare Zweibrücken printing bearing the false Saarbrücken imprint: Deux-Ponts was in fact an autonomous and conveniently located printing centre (by virtue of its proximity) for introducing into France titles that could not otherwise evade censorship.

Rare first edition (cf. Martin & Walter 25 395).

Contemporary half-sheepskin bindings, the spines smooth and gilt-ruled in double fillets, boards covered in rose-papered pasteboard, red sheepskin lettering-pieces and green volume labels, yellow edges; corners rubbed, bindings of the period.

Some rubbing and faint staining to the spines and boards with small losses to the rose paper, a tiny hole at the head of the spine of the first volume, scattered foxing and a few marks to the edges, not affecting the text.

Bound at the end of volume II is another work by the same author: "Appel au tribunal de l'opinion publique. Du rapport de M. Chabroud, et du décret rendu par l'Assemblée nationale le 2 octobre 1790. Examen du mémoire du Duc d'Orléans, et du plaidoyer du comte de Mirabeau, et nouveaux éclaircissemens sur les crimes du 5 et du 6 octobre 1789", printed in Geneva, s.n., 1790 (title, ij pp., pp. 3–352). First edition as well, and uncommon, of this refutation of the tendentious report delivered by Chabroud, president of the Constituent Assembly, concerning the riots of 5 and 6 August 1789.

Very rare first edition (cf. Monglond VII 661).

Contemporary half brown sheep with corners, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and fillets, rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards, grey endpapers and pastedowns, corners softened, yellow edges.

Pleasant, clean interior.

A shadowy figure who was by turns (and at times simultaneously) a secret agent, Tallien’s associate, a Revolutionary pamphleteer, and a double agent under the Directory and the Empire, Méhée de La Touche (1762–1827) left in 1784 on a covert diplomatic mission to Poland and Russia, from which he was expelled at the end of 1791. The correspondence he publishes here (running from 1788 to July 1791) abounds in valuable information on the social and political situation of these countries at the close of the eighteenth century.

Rare collection, in first edition, of political texts relating to the affairs of Belgium (shaken by the Brabant Revolution since 1787) and the Netherlands (whose opponents of the Stadtholder had often taken refuge in France).

As indicated by the handwritten table bound at the beginning of the volume, this copy constitutes only the first of a series of collections compiled by Roederer (see below) from the memoirs and pamphlets he received while serving as a member of the Constituent Assembly.

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spine gilt-decorated with garlands and urns (partly faded), rubbed head- and tailpieces, green morocco title-piece, gilt dentelle and garland borders on the covers, gilt fillet on the edges, corners rubbed, yellow edges sprinkled with red.

Some foxing at the end at the last booklet.

The contents are as follows:

 - I. Mémoire pour les patriotes Hollandois réfugiés en France. S.l.n.d. [Paris, 1790], 40 pp. 

• II. Mémoire remis au Comité des pensions de l'Assemblée nationale, par quelques Hollandois réfugiés en France, le 19 novembre 1790. S.l.n.d. [1790], 16 pp.
• - III. Note instructive remise en mai 1791 aux membres de l'Assemblée Nationale, par quelques Hollandois actuellement à Paris. [Paris], Imprimerie de H. J. Jansen, s.d. [1791], 23 pp.
• - IV. Manifeste du peuple brabançon. S.l., 1789, 40 pp.
• - V. [DUMOURIEZ (Charles-François):] Le Guide des nations, ou Correspondance politique et morale sur la France et les Pays-Bas. Paris, Imprimerie d'A.J. Gorsas, s.d. [1790], 110 pp.

Provenance: from the library of the lawyer, playwright, journalist and statesman Pierre-Louis Roederer (1754–1835), with his printed ex-libris on a pastedown, and at the head of part V, a signed presentation inscription from Charles-François Dumouriez to Pierre-Louis Roederer.

First edition (cf. Grand-Carteret, Almanachs, 158; Saffroy, Almanachs et annuaires, 306.)

Interleaved from page 46, with a few small spots of foxing.

Full old red morocco, smooth spine panelled and decorated with fleurons, triple gilt fillet border on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt roll-tooled edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Minor rubbing to the upper cover and a tiny hole to one joint.

Copy from the libraries of Raymond-Jean-François Laplagne-Barris (1786–1857), magistrate and Peer of France, and of heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with their bookplates pasted on the front pastedown and first endpaper.

New edition.

Half calf binding in tan, spine with five raised bands tooled in gilt with gilt compartments decorated with floral motifs, blond calf title label, green paper boards with scratches, some rubbing to edges, red edges, contemporary binding.

Spine restored and rubbed, tear without loss to the head of pages 33–34 and 35–36, ink marginal note on the title page, which has been trimmed by the binder.

The first edition of Recherches sur l'origine du despotisme oriental dates from 1761, and the text was extensively revised by Baron d’Holbach to reflect his atheistic views, as he was in fact the editor of all the works attributed to Boulanger, who died in 1759.

Originally conceived as a commentary on Montesquieu’s Esprit des Lois, the work condemns in equal measure what it calls “theocracy” (in reality, any transcendent source of power) and “despotism” (in effect, any form of unlimited monarchy, wrongly associated with non-Western societies), and is clearly aimed at criticizing the regimes then in force in Europe.

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 illustrated edition, with a frontispiece portrait of the author and a plate of music inserted at the end.

Not listed in Schwab.

Contemporary binding in half polished Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, chain motifs and floral tools, saffron paper boards, marbled edges.

Joints split at foots and slightly at heads, a pleasant copy overall.

An important work by the renowned Austrian orientalist (1774–1856) devoted to ancient Persian poetry, containing a large number of extracts translated into German and an extensive index.

The work, dedicated to the great French orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, was carefully printed in Gothic type; the Persian translations are presented in two columns.

A handsome, large-margined copy in a period binding.

First edition of this very rare memorandum advocating the establishment of a Chair of Natural Law at the Collège d’Autun (entrusted to the lawyer Bouheret).

No copies recorded in either CCFr or WorldCat.

The authors of this Dijon-printed text, mindful of their educational mission, examine the Utility of Natural Law from several perspectives—Religion, Government, and the various orders of society. They refer to Abbé Gédouin and his Dissertation sur l’éducation, to Mably’s Entretiens de Phocion, and to La Chalotais’s Essai d’Éducation nationale ou Plan d’études pour la jeunesse, both published the previous year. Burlamaqui’s Principes du droit naturel et politique (1694–1748), likewise issued posthumously at the same period, are mentioned, as are Cumberland’s Loix naturelles, translated in 1744, whose theses—close to Pufendorf and refuting Hobbes—reinforce the authors’ position. Printed in Dijon, this work reflects the depth and importance of the contemporary debate on natural law, a principle central to the Physiocrats, whose theories would shortly be developed and formulated by Quesnay in his celebrated Physiocratie ou constitution naturelle du Gouvernement le plus avantageux (Leiden and Paris, 1767–1768).

A handsome copy, as issued, preserved in its original plain temporary wrappers, with small tears to the spine.

First edition, illustrated with four plates, including a folding world map (cf. Sinkankas 3466; Agassiz III, 370).

Full fawn calf, spine with five slender raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments with occasionally softened floral tools, rubbed gilt headcaps, brown morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Repairs to the spine, one joint split at head and foot, browning along the board margins with surface scratches, scattered foxing, a waterstain at the head of all leaves.

A noteworthy treatise devoted to yellow amber and above all to ambergris, the fragrant substance derived from the intestinal concretions of sperm whales which, once expelled, float on the surface of the sea and yield a highly prized perfume.

The plates depict a frog and a lizard embedded in amber, a world map (Africa, Europe, Asia and part of the Southern Lands), figures collecting bird droppings, and various animals.

"This book commonly appears in bibliographies on amber when in fact it is about ambergris, but Klobius examines both substances and notes their differences on p. 26-9. One of the plates shows a frog and a lizard imbedded in amber, both of which are fakes" [Sinkankas].

On the title-page, a distinguished manuscript ex-libris in black ink

First edition, illustrated with woodcut armorial bearings at the head of the first page of text.

Description of the equestrian procession that accompanied through Rome the new Roman senator, Count Nils Bielke (1706–1765), a Swedish knight, chamberlain to the King of Sweden and papal chamberlain following his recent conversion to Catholicism.

The text gives a detailed account of the sumptuous costumes worn by the participants and of the various decorative settings. It concludes with the names and titles of all those who took part in the procession.

Ink annotations at the head of the final page.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, now protected by modern plain paper covers.

A rare and attractive copy.

First edition of this offprint of great rarity.

Not listed in Musset-Pathay. Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue Collectif de France (Institut and Orléans).

Our copy is presented in a modern temporary wrapper made to resemble old paper.

Wine and cherry brandy, homemade kirschen-vasser, gin, juniper wine, poor man’s wine, currant wine, raisin and other dried fruit wines, etc.

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 of this very rare legal memorandum, most likely printed for limited circulation. The former deputy and Bordeaux merchant Laffon de Ladébat (1746–1829), compelled to return to private life due to Napoleon’s enduring hostility, had been appointed to preside over the liquidation committee of the Banque Territoriale, established in July 1799, which faced insolvency in May 1803 following the Banque de France’s refusal to rediscount bills amounting to 255,000 francs.

No copies recorded in the CCF. Not listed in INED.

Our copy is preserved in its original temporary marbled-paper wrappers, modern but faithful to the period style.

Scattered foxing.

First edition of the French translation, based on the sixth English edition.

Copies listed in the CCF only at the BnF, Dijon, and Rouen libraries.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, in contemporary marbled paper wrappers.

The only edition of this curious political pamphlet, seemingly without any real connection to an English original, which proposes to reorganize Europe through joint—particularly military—control by the four principal continental powers (Austria, France, Spain, and Prussia) over all the others, in order to ensure peace and balance across the continent.

These prophetic, if still utopian, reflections are preceded by an analysis of Europe’s situation since the Seven Years’ War.

First edition of the first of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s essays on “Philosophie anatomique.”

Illustrated with 10 folding plates drawn by Huet and engraved by Plée père, containing 116 figures (cf. Agassiz III, p. 29, no. 51; British Museum (Natural History) II, p. 656; Engelmann I, p. 263; Quérard III, 320; DSB V, 355-358; Cahn (Th.), La vie et l’œuvre d’Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, pp. 81-112).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with black morocco title label, modern binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some foxing to the plates.

Based on a meticulous examination of the various anatomical structures of the respiratory organs in vertebrate animals, the author formulates several principles concerning their organization, the most important being that of the Unity of Composition. According to this principle, all vertebrate species share the same structural elements in equal number. Despite Cuvier’s criticisms, this theory gained traction and was later refined through embryology and paleontology. The work is divided as follows: 1. On the gill cover in fish, hitherto known as the operculum […] and on the four corresponding bones of the auditory canal in air-breathing animals, called the stapes, incus, lenticular and malleus. – 2. On the bones forming the external framework employed in the mechanics of respiration, or the bones of the sternum. – 3. On the anterior bones of the chest, or the hyoid. – 4. On the inner bones of the chest […] including, in air-breathing animals, the elements of the larynx, trachea and bronchi, and in fish, those of the branchial arches, gill teeth and cartilaginous lamellae of the gills. – 5. On the bones of the shoulder, with respect to their determination and their role in the phenomena of respiration. “Geoffroy revitalized comparative anatomy in France and created scientific teratology, experimental embryology, and the concept of paleontological evolution […]. He and his friend Lamarck lived too early to be completely understood” (DSB, V, p. 358).

Two further essays were later published: “Des monstruosités humaines” (1822) and “Fragmens sur la structure et les usages des glandes mammaires des cétacés” (1834).

A precious copy printed on deluxe paper (the two other essays were issued only on regular paper). The text is identical to the octavo edition published the same year, except for the errata, which here contains 12 lines (versus 20 in the regular edition).

First edition of this important work on cryptogams, illustrated with 36 hand-coloured plates (cf. Pritzel 3345).

Contemporary half calf with vellum corners, flat spine decorated with gilt floral rolls, partly rubbed, joints worn, lower cap trimmed with a small loss, black morocco title label, blue paper-covered boards.

Endpapers soiled, a few small spots of foxing.

Justin Girod-Chantrans, writer and naturalist [Besançon, 1750–1841], was one of the founders of the Société d’Agriculture du Doubs.

He was elected a member of the legislative body in 1802 (cf. Hoefer).

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 34 plates, including one in colour.

See Garrison & Morton, 2465 (for the original German edition).

Contemporary full marbled cream paper boards, smooth spine with some rubbing and small losses, decorative motif of three acorns stamped in the centre of the covers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front board.

Some light foxing.

First French translation of Abhandlung über die Saamen- und Infusionsthierchen, und über die Erzeugung, nebst mikroskopischen Beobachtungen des Saamens der Thiere in verschiedenen Infusionen (1778).

The biologist Wilhelm Friedich von Gleichen-Russwurm (1717–1783) was the first to develop the staining of bacteria (with carmine and indigo) to facilitate their microscopic observation.

A collection of extremely rare prospectuses, prefaces, prolegomena, and appendices to a monumental work of political and economic philosophy by the Le Havre lawyer J.-B.-J. L'Aignel (1741-1806), former mayor of Le Havre.

The work was intended to be published in several volumes, but illness prevented the author from completing it.

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt (partly faded) and decorated with double gilt compartments, black morocco title labels, gilt fillet borders on the edges (partly rubbed), red edges.

Worming in the lower margin of the final section, not affecting the text; small restorations to the boards.

Printed in Le Havre or nearby Montivilliers, these pieces were meant to be issued separately and have very rarely survived (Frère knew of only three).

The present copy was assembled by the author himself and is one of the two most complete known, along with the copy held by the Bibliothèque municipale du Havre (although with slightly different contents): 1) Souscriptions proposées au public par le jurisconsulte L'Aignel… Pour ses deux Ouvrages intitulés : le premier, les Loix commerciales : le deuxième, la France commerçante. 1er Avril 1797. 4 pp. 2) Loix commerciales et France commerçante. Adresse Aux deux Conseils du Corps Législatif. 1er Avril 1797. 12 pp. (Lechevalier, Biblio. arr. du Havre, 4698) 3) Discours historique sur le commerce (par Savary). 44 pp. (Lechevalier 4699) 4) Discours sur la navigation (par L'Aignel). 71 pp. (Lechevalier 4697) 5) Les Phares de Normandie et du Havre, Allumés à l’avènement de Louis XVI (par L'Aignel); Ode… Présentée à Sa Majesté étant aux Phares du Havre, le 28 Juin 1786. 8 pp. (Frère II 133, Lechevalier 1496) 6) Les Livres XX, XXI & XXII, de l'Esprit des Loix Par Montesquieu : Relatifs au Commerce, Considéré comme une des bases de l'Ordre Social. Montivilliers, Imprimerie des Administrations municipales, s.d. 112 et 6 pp. (Lechevalier 4700) 7) Analyse satyrique de l'Esprit des loix Par M. de Bonneval. 1 f.n.ch. 8) L'Ordre Social. Prospectus. - L'Ordre Social, Propre à tout Gouvernement quelqu'il soit, républicain ou Monarchique; distribué en neuf Législations proposées : précédé de l'Examen des loix hébraïques, romaines, françaises, et autres, tant anciennes que modernes… Par le Jurisconsulte l'Aignel,… Au Havre, Chez l'Auteur, de l'imprimerie de Patry, (1795). 1 f.n.ch. et 27 pp. (Frère II 134, Lechevalier 4690: autre éd. en 24 pp.?) 9) La Confédération générale de l'Europe : ou Extrait du projet de paix perpétuelle de l'abbé de Saint-Pierre. Montivilliers, de l'Imprimerie du District (vers 1796). 15 pp. (Lechevalier 4700 (2)) 10) L'Ordre social, propre à tout gouvernement, Et distribué en neuf Législations …Par le Jurisconsulte l'Aignel,… S.l., (1795). 4 pp. 11) Les Pairies populaires et leurs assemblées Proposées par le Jurisconsulte l'Aignel… S.l., (1796). 20 pp. (Lechevalier 4696) 12) Le Comice patriotique et universel. Au Havre, de l'Impr. de Le Picquier, (vers 1795). 23 pp. (Frère II 134, Lechevalier 4693) 13) Les Hospices, Ci-devant dits Hôpitaux, Aumôneries, Maladreries, Léproseries, Hôtels ou Maisons-Dieu. S.l. (vers 1795). 32 pp. (Lechevalier 4695: autre éd. en 32 pp.?) 14) Les Tributs directs et fixés. Observation préliminaire. Au Havre, de l'Impr. de Le Picquier (vers 1795). 27 pp. (Lechevalier 4694) 15) L'Appendice de la France commerçante en 1789 Par le Jurisconsulte l'Aignel… Au Havre, chez l'Auteur, de l'Imprimerie de Patry, (1796). 2 ff.n.ch., 4 pp. 16) Le Spectacle de la France, lors de la convocation des États Généraux en 1789. S.l., (1796). xij pp. 17) Remarques particulières sur le gouvernement français Par le Président Hénault. Montivilliers, de l'Imprimerie des Administrations municipales, (vers 1795-1796). 54 pp. (Lechevalier 4700 (3)) 18) Histoire sommaire du droit français Par Gabriel Argou,… Montivilliers, de l'Imprimerie du District, (vers 1795-1796). 56 pp. (Lechevalier 4700 (4)) 19) Le Spectacle de la France, lors de la convocation des États Généraux en 1789. S.l. (vers 1795). 107 pp. (Lechevalier 4688) 20) Commerce général de la France en 1789 S.l.n.d. 23 pp. (Lechevalier 4691) 21) Salines et sel, Particulièrement en France S.l.n.d. 44 pp. (Lechevalier 4692). L'Aignel affixed to the front flyleaf an in-8 printed leaf containing two of his poems in honor of the First Consul and Josephine during their official visit to Le Havre on 15 Brumaire Year XI (6 November 1802).

This copy remained in the author’s family until his grandson René, also a lawyer in Le Havre, presented it on 6 November 1882 to a certain E. Seguin, as indicated by a pencil note on the front pastedown.

Rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated with 12 double-page plates mounted on guards. (Not in Ferguson.)

Contemporary soft pink paper boards, spine renewed, with a small stain and some paper losses to the covers.

Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff (1770–1837), a disciple of Buchholz, was professor of chemistry and physics at Erfurt, but is generally regarded in Germany as a pharmacist. Throughout his career, he sought to establish pharmacology on the foundations of pure chemistry. The translator, Philippe-Xavier Leschevin de Précour (1771–1814), a brilliant young chemist, died prematurely while serving as chief commissioner of powders and saltpetre in Dijon.

A pleasant and uncommon copy.

First edition illustrated with a copper-engraved plate (showing some dampstains) from the second part of this brief communication, which served as an invitation to the public meeting of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow.

According to the CCF, only the Natural History Museum holds all three parts, published respectively in 1809, 1810, and 1811.

Very rare copy preserved in its original stitched wrappers with the printed pink cover.

Covers slightly discoloured and foxed at the margins, two dampstains affecting the lower edge throughout. Manuscript notes at the head of the front wrapper identifying the author and title.

The Saxon naturalist Fischer von Waldheim (1771–1853) was, in 1805, the founder of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, whose aim was to promote the study of natural history in Russia—a society still active today under a different name.

He worked across all fields of natural history, carrying out extensive research on the classification of invertebrates, and published Entomographia Imperii Rossici, issued between 1820 and 1851.

He also studied fossils in the region of Moscow, as well as molluscs and other marine organisms.

Copy from the library of the French naturalist André-Constant Duméril (1774–1860), with his handwritten ex-libris at the lower right corner of the front cover.

Very rare document on the so-called "Eau de Cologne," illustrated with a headpiece depicting the city of Cologne.

Written by Giovanni Antonio Farina (1718–1787), one of the heirs and successors of the inventor of the famous lotion, the Italian perfumer Giovanni Paolo Feminis (1660–1736), who had settled in Cologne.

Jean-Antoine Farina would later transmit the formula to his descendants, the last of whom, Jean-Marie Farina (1785–1864), successfully marketed the celebrated water during the first half of the 19th century.

This pamphlet details the various medicinal applications of Eau de Cologne (the names of the ailments are printed in capitals). "Il y a environ un siècle que cette Eau a été inventée et composée par le Sr. Paul Feminis, Italien, et ancien Distillateur à Cologne, et qu'elle est en grande réputation dans toute l'Europe. On ne peut donner à cette Eau tout l'éloge qu'elle mérite : ses vertus sont au dessus de tout ce qu'on peut en dire, et l'expérience constante qu'on en a par les effets surprenans que dans une infinité de Maladies elle opère continuellement, sur toutes les Personnes, de quelque sexe et âge qu'elles soient, en est une preuve si convaincante, que c'est à juste titre qu'on lui donne le nom d'admirable".

Rare first edition with bilingual text (French with facing Italian translation).

Our copy is preserved in its original state, uncut and unbound in temporary dominoté paper wrappers (with pen and black ink accounts and trials on the verso of the second cover). Minor foxing.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (Avignon). Not listed in Starace.

A very rare collection documenting a little-known aspect of the famous "Miot decrees", which have given rise to much commentary, though only concerning their fiscal and customs provisions.

The regulatory activity of this unflinching State official extended into many other areas. When he disembarked from the Hirondelle on 25 March 1801 in Bastia, it was the second mission undertaken by Miot (1762–1841) in Corsica to implement continental legislation (the first had taken place in 1796–1797).

Settled in Ajaccio in the Bonaparte house, he exceptionally held full military, administrative, and judicial powers, tasked with bringing, as far as possible, the islanders under the French legal system, the constitutional regime having been temporarily suspended on the island by the First Consul.

The task was far from easy, hampered by numerous personal oppositions, and until his departure on 14 September 1802, he was often compelled to adapt the legal requirements to local customs and institutions.

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.

Extremely rare first edition, probably printed in Prussia, of this essay written directly in French by Baron de Bielfeld (1716–1770), inspector of Prussian universities and a friend of Frederick the Great since the time when he was still Crown Prince of Prussia.

GV 1700–1910, vol. 111, p. 374. Not in Conlon (who only cites the Amsterdam edition of the same year). No copy located in the U.S.A.

Full red morocco with gilt decoration, smooth spine elaborately tooled in the grotesque style, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillet border on the covers, gilt fillets on the edges, star-patterned gilt paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle border on the inside covers, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Small black spots on the boards, a few insignificant scattered foxmarks.

The author clearly intended this work to flatter his sovereign by showing how the princes of the House of Brandenburg, and particularly “the monarch who now occupies the throne,” had “the glorious maxim of granting their subjects full freedom of thought and generous protection to all talents.”

A fine copy, bound in a Parisian binding from one of the capital’s finest workshops, preserved in near-perfect condition.

First edition of this important account of Buffon, providing insights into his private life, his character, and his relationships with those around him; it also contains numerous references to his scientific work (cf. Quérard I, 119: "Lyon, Grabit, 1788"; Dureau, "Notice sur Joseph Aude," p. 15).

Half vellum binding, smooth spine with a red morocco title label in vertical layout, marbled paper boards, slightly rubbed corners, sprinkled edges.

Stains in the margins of the title page and final leaf.

The memoirs proper end on page 55.

The following pages contain the poems announced in the title.

The rarity of this volume was already noted by Dureau in 1868...

Chevalier Aude (1755–1841), a prolific dramatist and former secretary to Caraccioli, had also served as Buffon’s secretary and resided, in the manner of an “Eckermann,” with the great naturalist at his estate in Montbard.

Armorial bookplate "Sapere Aude" pasted on the verso of the front board, likely belonging to a descendant of the Chevalier.

Second edition.

Full forest-green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands framed with gilt dotted lines and decorated with double gilt panels, gilt rolls at head and tail, triple gilt fillets bordering the covers, marbled paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle frame on the inside covers, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets along the edges, an elegant binding signed by Krafft.

Bound following it are:

- Nicolas Papin’s “De pulvere sympathico dissertatio”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1650 (8 unnumbered leaves, the last blank, and 40 pp.).

- By the same author, “La poudre de sympathie, deffendue contre les objections de Mr. Cattier, médecin du Roy”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1651 (4 unnumbered leaves and 56 pp.).

- Isaac Cattier’s “Response à Monsieur Papin Docteur en Medecine, touchant la poudre de sympathie”, printed in Paris by Edme Martin in 1651 (87 pp.).

A fine copy, beautifully preserved in a splendid binding signed by Krafft.

Rare first edition (cf. Caillet 3017).

Full porphyry calf binding, smooth spine decorated in the grotesque style, small losses and rubbing at the foot of the spine, tan calf title label with a small loss and restoration, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt rolls on the caps partially faded, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

An interesting dissertation written by President de Brosses (1709–1777) for the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, “on ancient myths, theurgy, magic, and secret cults.”