Gift Ideas – Antique Books

First edition of this important work, cf. Krivatsy 588. Garrison-Morton 1673, 5047 and 5085.

Full stiff ivory vellum, spine with four raised bands, the author’s name handwritten in black ink, one defect on the fourth band, blind-tooled rolls on the headcaps, gilt fillets highlighting the raised bands and framing the covers, small vellum losses on the covers, losses at the corners of the first and last endpaper, edges sprinkled red, contemporary binding.

Bound with this work are three further treatises by Guillaume de Baillou, all printed by Quesnel in 1640. Krivatsy, describing a volum

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

Binding in full painted sheep decorated with a “honeycomb” motif, smooth spine tooled with gilt fleurons, fillets and compartments, light beige calf lettering and volume pieces, gilt chain-roll border on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt roll on edges, all edges marbled, contemporary binding. Two volumes (nos. 50 and 70) with slight variations in gilt tools on the spines and

Remarkable collection of 19 letters patent transcribing into French law what had originally been the outcome of diplomatic conventions; the sovereignties concerned are as follows, arranged in chronological order of the letters patent: I. Imperial City of Reutlingen (January 1775, 6 pp.). – II. Principality of Nassau-Weilburg (26 April 1776, 23 pp.). – III. Electorate of Saxony (1 September 1776, 10 pp.). – IV. Republic of Ragusa (October 1776, 7 pp.). – V. Principality of Nassau-Usingen (10 June 1777, 8 pp.). – VI. Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg (15 August 1778, 11 pp.). – VII. Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (15 August 1778, 12 pp.). – VIII. Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (15 August 1778, 12

First edition and definitive and posthumous edition, arranged in strict chronological order, of a very rare iconographic series whose publication had begun as early as 1806 in somewhat disorderly instalments, but was never completed (only 49 instalments had appeared at the author’s death).

Cf Brunet V, 1453.

Work illustrated with 300 plates: lithographed and watercoloured title-frontispiece and 149 engraved plates, most finely hand-coloured, for the first volume; 150 plates for the second.

Contemporary bindings in half cherry-red morocco-grained shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets and panels, some minor rubbing to spines a

Rare first edition (cf. Quérard IV, 138. NUC: 3 copies).

Written in French by J.A. Borelly (a German translation by G.W. Bartoldy appeared simultaneously from the same publisher), these engaging memoirs are the work of the Swedish general Johann Ludwig von Hordt [1719-1778].

Contemporary full grey paper boards, red shagreen title-piece with a small marginal defect, smooth spine, joints rubbed, binding of the period.

Preserved in a modern green paper box; title label at the head of the spine.

Some light foxing.

Rare copy in its original state: uncut and in the publisher’s boards.

First edition.

Full red morocco binding, round spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons, slight rubbing on the caps, double frame of blind-stamped gilt fillets on the covers, with fleurons at the corners of the inner frame, edges slightly blunt, marbled paper endpapers and back covers, gilt edges and heads, very elegant 19th-century binding ‘a la Du Seuil’ signed Quinet on the first endpaper. 

Rare first edition of Chamblain de Marivaux's first theatrical success, The Surprise of Love, published four years before The Second Surprise of Love. This play, performed in the spring of 1722 before being published the foll

One of the very few copies bearing an autograph inscription—fewer than ten are recorded—of this first edition, containing the Marseillaise.
First edition illustrated with an engraved frontispiece by Charles-Étienne Gaucher after Jean-Jacques Le Barbier and four pages of engraved musical score at the end of the volume. La Marseillaise appears here in its true first edition, having first been pre-published in the Almanach des Muses in 1793 and circulated as separate leaves.
Contemporary half-sheepskin binding, smooth spine gilt-decorated with compartments, fleurons and fillets, red morocco title-piece, black pasteboard sides

Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard.

The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders.

Contempor

First edition (cf. Polak 8547).

Rare copy preserved in its original stitching, in temporary cream paper wrappers.

A few marginal manuscript annotations on page 49.

This publication includes only the decrees issued between 7 Thermidor Year II [25 July 1794] and 9 Fructidor Year II [26 August 1794], although the mission of the Convention member Jeanbon Saint-André (1749–1813) in Toulon continued until March 1795.

An important document on the work of one of the reformers of the French navy during the Revolution.

First edition (cf. Sabin 47206. Leclerc 952.).

Some joints cracked at head and tail, minor marginal losses of no consequence to the temporary wrappers.

The author, Italian by birth, emigrated to America before the Revolution and settled in Virginia near Monticello.

His book, written in collaboration with Condorcet, is of particular interest with regard to the history of independence and the government of the United States, cf. Fay pages 24-25: "Compilation très exacte, qui réfute les théories de Mably et de Raynal et constitue un répertoire précieux de renseignements de tous ordres sur les États-Unis."

Rare and appealing copy preserved in its original stit

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

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

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

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

Pleasant copy.

New edition illustrated with 79 woodcuts in the text (cf. Bibliographie der Spielbücher).

Contemporary limp vellum, plain spine rubbed and soiled, covers stained.

Light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, at the foot of the first part, and affecting other leaves.

The work is generally attributed to Father Leurechon (1591-1670), a Jesuit from Lorraine, professor of mathematics, philosophy and theology at the University of Pont-à-Mousson (Dictionary of Scientific Biography VIII 271), though its authorship remains disputed (cf. David Singmaster, Bibliography of Some Recreational Mathematics Books, 2004, who attributes it to Hendrik van Etten).

Rare first edition illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.

Unique edition, of the utmost rarity, rendered all the more so by the second dedication to Berthier, unrecorded elsewhere and evidently added later.

It is known that the young Bonaparte, assigned to the artillery regiment of La Fère, had passionately learned his military trade at the Royal School of Artillery in Auxonne.

It is also known that he had studied in depth the Nouveaux principes d'artillerie by Benjamin Robins, on which he left notes.

This work must therefore have drawn his particular attention. The author long taught artillery in military schools, yet little is known about h

First edition, cf Conlon 17:710. Quérard VII, 455 ("Cette Dissertation est très-estimée").

Full marbled blond calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments decorated with gilt bees, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, mottled edges, contemporary binding.

Lower corner rubbed, endpapers partially browned.

Notable treatise on the two great English political parties, their history, development, and respective positions.

First edition, very rare. "Aucun exemplaire de ce livre imprimé aux frais de la duchesse d'Orléans avant 1814 ne fut distribué de son vivant (Tourneux, Bibl. de l'hist. de Paris pendant la Révolution fr., IV, 21752)

Cf Quérard, VIII, 258. Brunet, II, 1136. Tourneux, 21572.

Some leaves browned or foxed.

Contemporary Bradel bindings in full purple paper boards imitating long-grain morocco, spines slightly faded, decorated with gilt fillets, friezes, and fleurons, gilt crowned monogram at the head of the spines, entirely uncut, headcaps slightly worn, some wear to the corners of volumes 3 and 4, bindings contemporary to the publication.

Some leaves slightly browne

Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Thomas-François Dalibard at the request of the Comte de Buffon (cf Wheeler Gift 367d. Waller 11339. DSB V, pp. 129-139).

Full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments with floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls on the caps (partly rubbed), restorations to head and tail of spine as well as to the corners of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Some foxing, a dampstain to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.

The English first edition was published in London in

First edition of this fine collection comprising 72 numbered copper-engraved plates. (cf. Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung Berlin, 2744. Brunet, V, 199 lists the author's name as Scheult).

Contemporary half calf binding with vellum-tipped corners, recently rebacked with a smooth spine decorated with gilt ornamental rolls and fleurons, olive green morocco label. Some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper-covered boards.

Scattered foxing, light dampstain to the upper outer corner of most leaves.

Rare first edition (cf. Polak, 1808; Quérard, II, 133. Not in Crowne Library. Absent from Brunet.)

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, spines with five raised bands framed in gilt fillets, gilt double compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco title labels, volume label with partly faded gilt on vol. II, some joints restored, gilt roll-tooled caps partially dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelles, red edges.

Some foxing, final leaves in both volumes and endpapers lightly toned in margins.

Extremely rare printing by Fauvelle, official printer for the Tribunaux de la Seine, contemporary and textually identical to the octavo and quarto editions by the Imprimerie de la République. Only four copies with Fauvelle's imprint in OCLC (BnF, National Library of Spain, Royal Danish Library, Stadtbibliothek Worms).

Bradel-style binding in full marbled paper boards, flat spine with red roan label, light foxing to the first three leaves.

First version of the Napoleonic Code, presented by the four members of Bonaparte's commission appointed to draft the civil code. Also contains the important “Preliminary Address to the First Draft of the Civil Code,” outlining the i

First quarto edition, third issue (distinguished by the absence of the table of contents at the end; the other two issues present this table as 28 unnumbered leaves or 42 pages), cf. Polak 7161.

Each of the 23 books comprising the ordinance is separated from the preceding one by 8 blank leaves, likely intended for handwritten supplements or annotations, though these remain unused.

Full tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments and tooling, tan leather title label, gilt rolls on the somewhat faded caps, name of a former owner gilt-stamped on upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets partially faded along the edges, red edges. Contempo

First edition of the French translation by Jean-Baptiste Dupuy-Demportes of the work originally published in 1689 under the title "La Morale dei principi osservata nell'istoria di tutti gl'imperadori, che regnarono in Roma" (cf. Quérard II, 260. Barbier III, 353b. Conlon VII, 54-572. Hoefer XI, 314).

Contemporary full red morocco bindings, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and double gilt panels with gilt floral tools, boards framed by gilt roll-tooled floral and bird motifs, gilt fillets on the board edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt over marbling.

Some gatherings bound out of sequence in volumes 1 and 3; headcap of volum

First edition of the French translation by Nicolas-Gabriel Vaquette d'Hermilly (1705 or 1710–1778), later revised by La Harpe (Quérard II, 30; Cioranescu, XVIII, 33 926).

Despite its very late date, this was only the second attempt at a French translation of Os Lusiadas (1572), following that of 1735 by Duperron de Castéra, which had failed to convince contemporary readers.

This edition includes 10 copper-engraved plates out of text, and is further enriched with notes and a biography of the author.

Bound in early 19th-century green bottle Russian morocco over pink paper boards, corners reinforced, flat spines with gilt double fillets and black ruling; some surfa

First edition of the first of six publications addressing the state of the Corps of Bridges and Roads, presented to the National Constituent Assembly by Chaumont de La Millière (1746–1803), who served as director of the School from 1781 to 1792.

Contemporary half vellum binding with corners, flat spine with red morocco label, soft marbled paper boards showing some wear and losses from rubbing, yellow edges.

Two additional related publications have been bound at the end:

I. Supplément au Mémoire de M. de La Millière, sur le département des Ponts & Chaussées; ou Réponses à deux écrits relatifs à ce Mémoire, qui ont paru depuis sa publication. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1

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

Bound in full old red morocco, smooth spine decorated with fleur-de-lis panels, gilt roll tooling on the caps, triple gilt fillet framing on covers, gilt tooling along the edges, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Date handwritten in black ink at the top of the upper cover.

This rather rare almanac was published continuously from 1744 to 1789.

Provenance: From the library of heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with his bookplate mounted on a pastedown.

Rare first edition of one of the many promotional pamphlets extolling the virtues of the celebrated Aqua mirabilis, or "eau admirable", invented by Giovanni Paolo Feminis and produced through the distillation of grape spirits with neroli oil, bergamot, lavender, and rosemary.

Unless, of course, it is one of its many imitations.

First edition, of great rarity (cf. Sabin 4182).

Bradel-style binding in full orange paper-covered boards, with a brown shagreen spine label; modern binding.

A very good copy.

A vindication of France’s conduct during the uprising of the British colonies in America.

First edition of this French translation prepared by Abbé J.B. Morvan de Bellegarde, who here renders six of the nine books of the celebrated Brevissima relación by Las Casas, first published in Seville in 1552 (cf. Sabin 11273. Medina BHA 1085n. Streit I:733. Palau 46966. JCB (4) 344-345. Leclerc 337. "European Americana" 697/33).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine gilt in compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco label, gilt rolls to head and tail caps, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, red edges.

Minor repairs to joints, discreet restoration in the inner margin of the frontispiece.

A handsome copy.

Las

First edition of this significant work on the customary law of Maine. Divided into sixteen parts, it also includes two valuable alphabetical indexes: one listing the main subjects covered in this Custom of Maine as well as in the revised Customs of Anjou and Paris, and the other listing key subjects found in the remarks and observations on this custom.

Marginal dampstaining to a few leaves, occasional foxing.

Contemporary ownership inscription on the title page: Berthereau.

Contemporary full mottled calf, spine with six raised bands, gilt double compartments with decorative tooling, red morocco title label, gilt rolls on somewhat faded caps, marbled endpapers and pastedo

New edition. A steel-engraved portrait frontispiece, printed on China paper and mounted. Printed in very small type, arranged in two columns.

Full polished blond calf binding, signed by Thouvenin at foot of spine. Smooth spine with blind-stamped Gothic architectural elements heightened with gilt dots, gilt fillets and title. Covers blind-stamped with a large Gothic window surrounded by architectural ornaments. Multiple blind-ruled frames with corner fleurons and gilt fillets. Inner dentelles. All edges gilt. Joints discreetly cracked at head. Some foxing and occasional browning to a few pages. Minor rubbing. Spine slightly dulled. A handsome copy.

Collective edition, partly original. It is illustrated with 3 frontispiece titles and 23 figures by François Chauveau. The three frontispiece titles dated 1660, the title page of the second volume with the date 1664, the other two title pages dated 1660. In the second volume, the privilege is also dated 1664, while the other two volumes have the privilege dated 1660. The second volume is therefore the 1664 reprint, identical in every respect to the 1660 edition, with the exception of the collation of the preliminary pieces. The three discourses as well as the examinations of each piece appear for the first time.

Binding in full 20th-century chocolate morocco signed Alix at the botto

Rare collection of pamphlets printed in Toulon or Marseille, notably during the Restoration period, several of which implicate senior military figures of the First Empire.

The first item is: "Ordonnance du Roi, Portant règlement sur les Franchises du Port de Marseille et Suite de l'Ordonnance..." printed in Toulon, by Alx (sic) Curet, (1815), 16 pages, comprising an extract from the Moniteur of 24 February 1815.

Bound in half ivory vellum with corners, smooth spine, manuscript inscription in black ink to spine, blue pasteboards with some surface abrasions, contemporary binding.

Some foxing. A few nicks to the edges.

Bound in continuation:

1)

New edition, partly original (cf. Quérard VII, 308. See Blackmer and Atabey for other editions. Not in Conlon.)

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf binding, smooth spine decorated with panels adorned with a bird tool surrounded by small gilt fleurons, green calf title-piece, gilt fillets to edges, red edges.

Spine and joints restored.

The title-page is engraved and enhanced with wash (two Turks in conversation with a European).

"This work contains [the 21] letters of Neddim Coggia, supposedly describing his experiences in Paris as secretary to the embassy of Mehemet Effendi in 1721 (…) Blackmer incorrectly states that the Letters of Nedim Coggia and the 'Le

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.

Complete year for 1787, with 50 issues, of this health journal with continuous pagination (pagination error between nos. 48 and 49).

Contemporary half marbled sheep, smooth spine, bronze sheep lettering-piece, rubbing to the spine, domino-patterned paper boards, a few scuffs to the boards, corners worn and small nicks to the edges, red edges, contemporary binding. 

The journal, founded in 1773 by Jean-Jacques Gardane, doctor-regent of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, would run for 17 years, with one volume per year, except for the years 1773-1774.

Jean-Jacques Gardane distinguished himself in the establishment in Paris of treatment houses for the poor and in the diff

First edition of this speculative theological inquiry into the date of the end of time, based on scriptural data.

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, spine in five raised bands richly gilt with fleuroned compartments, red morocco title label, loss to the headcap, joints split at head and foot and restored, some rubbing to the spine, covers framed with a blind fillet, marbled endpapers, gilt edges to the boards with a few nicks, red-speckled edges, corners worn, binding of the period.

A few pencilled markings and marginal annotations to certain passages, library stamp on the title page, a light dampstain to the upper edge of one leaf, not affecting the text. 

The author,

First edition illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 folding engraved plates by Gobille after drawings by Guillet, depicting an ancient theatre and a plan of Athens with its surroundings (cf. Blackmer 766. Weber 364. Brunet, Table, 22855.)

Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with compartments tooled in gilt, now very rubbed, restorations to the spine and covers.

First historiographer of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to which he was admitted in 1682, Guillet de Saint-George (Thiers, circa 1625 - Paris, 1705) became known through several writings, the principal ones relating to Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

Third edition, the second issued by Simon de Colines (cf. Renouard, Bibliogr. de Finé, 357-358. Brun, 189. Mortimer, French, 228 (not this ed.). Schreiber, 188. Not in Fairfax Murray.)

This edition constitutes a revised and improved reissue of the 1535 edition, with a newly cut woodcut architectural border to the title ("Quadrivium II").

Full vellum binding, smooth spine, manuscript title at the head of the spine, modern binding in the style of early vellum bindings,

A small tear to the title-page restored, a date inscribed in ink beside the printed date of publication.

A pleasing copy of one of Simon de Colines’ typographical masterpieces.

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with 28 hors-texte plates of Chinese ideograms (cf. Cordier, Sinica, 1735-36; Backer & Sommervogel II, 1168 (2)).

The table of plates lists 27; Backer records 29; our copy contains 28, whereas most copies indeed call for 27.

Modern half fawn calf, smooth spine ruled in gilt with double fillets and gilt floral tools, brown speckled paper-covered boards, speckled top edge. The sole edition of a work thoroughly informed on the ideogrammatic origins of Chinese characters, thereby contradicting the thesis advanced by the English orientalist Needham concerning the supposed analogy between Chinese writing and the Egyptian hieroglyph

First edition, no copy recorded in the CCF.

Modern bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, spine ruled in gilt.

First leaf restored to the right margin with an adhesive repair, some light foxing, dampstain to the upper margin of the opening leaves.

A native of the Briançonnais (Villeneuve-la-Salle), like many booksellers who settled beyond the Alps, Yves Gravier established himself in Genoa in the second half of the eighteenth century, first in partnership with Louis Fantin, and subsequently on his own.

His parents Jean, Thomas and Simon Gravier were likewise active in Italy (Thomas in Rome itself).

In 1839, the firm was placed into liquidation.

Bo

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 a

New edition, partly original, constituting a revised and expanded version of the author’s doctoral thesis.

A few minor spots of foxing. 

Contemporary full fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with decorative friezes and floral tools, slight rubbing to the joints, red shagreen title label, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, period binding. 

A military physician, the author took part in the Russian campaign and was attached to the Imperial Guard field hospitals in Vilna under the command of Larrey. 

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.

Minor spotting to the boards.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under plain white provisional covers.

Then French minister to the Court of Saint Petersburg, Louis-Philippe de Ségur (1753-1830) intervened in the constitutional debate that was stirring the National Assembly concerning the attribution of the right to declare peace and war (to the King? to the Assembly?).

First edition of the complete works of Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède and de Montesquieu, edited by François Richer under the supervision of the author's son. Volumes 1 and 2 contain the celebrated Spirit of the Laws, introduced by a headpiece depicting the 1753 Dassier medal and illustrated with two maps—a world map and one of Europe—in the second volume. This copy is enriched with a frontispiece, painted by Jacques de Sève and engraved by Claude-Antoine Littret, from the 1767 London edition, as well as 10 additional pages containing the "Additions" in volume 3.

New edition of the translation by Alain-René Le Sage, revised by Pons-Auguste Alletz, some forty years after its initial publication. Two frontispieces decorate each volume. As we learn from the Avertissement, this classic, which flowed from the pen of the author nicknamed the "Divine Spaniard" by his compatriots, was then, in the 1770s, unknown to a large part of the French youth.

Contemporary binding in full brown tree calf, smooth gilt spine with four compartments separated by traditional and dotted

A rare 1750 reimpression of two works first published together in 1669, brought together by the fabulist from that first date.

Contemporary full brown sheep, spine with five raised bands highlighted with a gilt fillet and decorated with five compartments tooled with dandelion-shaped gilt fleurons, red morocco lettering piece, blind-ruled fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, shell pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Head and tail caps slightly split, discreet loss of leat

First edition limited to only 250 copies, which were not offered for sale but given to the author's close circle. This former minister under Louis XV composed these essays in 1736, and his son, the Marquis de Paulmy, had them published nearly fifty years later.

Contemporary half brown calf, grained paper boards, spine with five raised bands decorated with five compartments featuring double gilt fillets, red morocco lettering piece, red speckled edges.

An intriguing first edition, complete with its engraved frontispiece of the author by Giovanni Volpato after Domenico Corvi, and its introductory poem by the Abbé Luigi Godard. A copy unrecorded in non-European libraries according to WorldCat.

Contemporary binding of fawn mottled calf, smooth spine divided into five gilt compartments by gilt rolls, brown morocco lettering-piece, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, double gilt fillet on the board edges, blue speckled edges, and shell-pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

The lower cap lacking, some surface w

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

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

First edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original plain pink paper waiting wrappers.

Ink annotations to the front cover, a few short tears; internally a clean and agreeable copy.

As it was never ratified, this concordat never came into effect, and France therefore remained under the regime of the Concordat of 1801 until the Law on the Separation of Church and State in 1905.

First edition, no copies in North American libraries; only four copies known in Europe (Mazarine, Méjanes, BnF, Lausanne). Illustrated throughout with numerous headpieces, historiated initials, and tailpieces. Contemporary full gilt vellum binding, flat spine with gilt floral tools twice framed in gilt, morocco lettering-piece, boards framed in gilt, centre oval palm wreath, enclosing the initials “I.H.S.” (Jesus Hominum Salvator), superimposed over a former cypher “H. D. B.”, the lower board with the same wreath enclosing the initials “MA” (Mater Amabilis), tie holes, traces of a library label at the foot of spine, gilt edges, some foxing and margina

New edition.

Contemporary half bottle-green sheep over green paper boards, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and a central gilt fleuron, green endpapers and pastedowns, contemporary binding.

Some light foxing.

"The author's Cosmologie, published at Paris in 1815 [?], devoted considerable space to America". (Sabin, 100990).

Rare first edition, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece (cf. Barbier II 802; Cioranescu 65461).

Contemporary full mottled brown calf, spine with five raised bands tooled with rubbed gilt fillets and decorated with gilt compartments containing floral tools, gilt roll-tooling to the head- and tailcaps, rubbing to the joints, mottled edges; contemporary binding.

The work is attributed to Claude Vanel, who served as counsellor at the Cour des Comptes in Montpellier.

Provenance: from the library of Jacques Charreton, a Lyon jurist contemporary with the publication; his armorial bookplate (Meyer-Noirel C 0949) appears on the pastedown.

Manuscript shelf-mark in

Rare and important first edition.

Our copy is sold unbound. A minor worm-trail on all leafs' heads, not affecting text. 

The work describes the dress, headdress, arsenal and equipment of soldiers and officers of the French army; it also addresses the cavalry, dragoons, and hussars.

The chapter devoted to the distinctive uniform of each regiment includes a list of these regiments, some of which took part in the American Revolutionary War. 

First edition (see Sabin 97501).

A light dampstain to the right margin of the opening leaves.

Half brown cloth binding, smooth spine with a brown sheep lettering-piece, boards with marbled paper; a modest later binding.

After distinguishing himself—at times infamously—during the wars of the French Revolution, notably in Vendée, Louis-Marie Turreau [1756–1816] later served in Italy and captured the city of Susa.

He held the post of Ambassador to the United States from 1804 to 1811 and was created Baron of the Empire upon his return. His Aperçu of 1815 offers a bitter critique of the federal government. Turreau’s name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe

Copy in parts, unbound, each one of them a first edition. 

According to the CCFr, the Lunéville media library holds the first text in manuscript copy form. On May 28, 1777, France renewed in Solothurn (Switzerland), for fifty years, its long-standing treaties of alliance with the thirteen cantons. The privileges specified in the second text are chiefly commercial and financial in nature; they derive, to varying degrees, from the Treaty of Perpetual Peace of 1516 (Treaty of Fribourg).

First edition, illustrated with five engraved plates (see Crowley 894; David 258; Poletti 182).

Scattered foxing, otherwise a pleasing copy.

Contemporary half sheep, the flat spine gilt with decorative rolls and small tools, black morocco lettering-piece, headcap worn, some rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards.

"… Serres did research into the development of the bones and teeth…" (D.S.B., XII, 315).

Rare first edition, illustrated with four plates at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 8728).

This practical treatise was reissued repeatedly until the end of the Ancien Régime.

Our copy is offered in its original state, stitched in the temporary blue paper wrappers.

A waterstain in the right margin of the first fifty leaves, with another affecting the lower margins of the subsequent leaves; title page detached.

Gilles-François Segondat (1724–1791), deputy commissioner of the navy, was to conclude his career as an ordinary commissioner of the ports.

Very rare devotional work, for which no bibliographical information could be traced.

Not recorded in Hage Chahine, Blackmer, or Atabey.

Full brown calf binding, spine with four raised bands gilt-ruled and richly gilt-panelled, brown calf lettering-piece, contemporary binding.

Some restorations to the spine and joints, spotting to the edges.

First edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers beneath a plain cover, the spine split with losses to the paper and the title label also with defects.

Pleasing condition internally, with only occasional foxing.

Among the finest works relating to naval medicine; a substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.

The author, a physician in the Dutch navy, composed this work entirely from his own firsthand observations. 

A substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.

Second edition, revised and expanded (see Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1557). Only three copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF, Dijon and Nîmes).

Contemporary full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands and richly gilt compartments, modern burgundy morocco lettering-piece, some rubbing to spine and joints, headcaps trimmed, triple gilt fillet frame on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown.

The first edition of this small universal calendar appeared in 1711 in the form of a folio broadside. 

Each subsequent issue expanded the content: the 1731 edition was intended to serve as a supplement to the large Calendrier

Rare first edition (cf. Pritzel 7288).

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Amiens and Montpellier).

Bound in a modern bradel binding of full blue paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering, printed paper title label pasted at the centre of the upper cover, a small dampstain at the foot of the spine.

The author, an apothecary in Montpellier, later qualified as a doctor of medicine.

First edition, illustrated with two plates, including an engraved portrait frontispiece by S. Desmaretz and Couché after Scheibler, together with an engraved headpiece by De Launay (cf. Quérard, VII, 240; Polak, 7650).

Account of the career of Jean Bart, squadron leader in the French Navy and Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, forming part of the collection devoted to the nineteen engagements of this celebrated seaman, engraved by M. Le Gouaz; followed by historical, biographical and topographical notes on the origins of Dunkirk and the political importance of its port (...). With engraved plates and vignettes. Dedicated to H.E. the Minister of the Navy and the C

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a folding plate showing surgical instruments (cf. Garrison & Morton 2158.1; V. Rozier 3346).

A copy preserved in the original wrappers, in contemporary orange marbled paper without lettering.

Spine split; a light dampstain to the lower margins of the first few leaves.

Percy stresses the importance of immediate care for the wounded on the battlefield. "One of Napoleon's leading surgeons, Percy laid down his principles of the practice of military surgery in the same year he was appointed médecin consultant of the Army of the North. He divised his own instrument for bullet extraction, the tribulcon. He was respons

First edition of this in-folio printed broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only.

Visible fold marks to the broadside.

Different issue from the one dated An XI (1803), which itself is not firmly established as the true first edition (cf. Monglond VI 139–140; Quérard VI 326).

The work is illustrated with an etched frontispiece entitled « Frémissez ! voilà du joueur le sort inévitable !! » depicting a gambler blowing his brains out in a gaming room, amid general indifference.

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, with a blank marbled paper provisional cover showing small losses at the corners.

A pleasing copy.

First edition of the French translation (cf. Chadenat, 494; Brunet I, 24.)

Contemporary half green sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with double gilt fillets, marbled paper sides with minor rubbing, marbled endpapers, two small tears at the joints, contemporary bindings.

Light waterstain to the upper right corner of a number of leaves in the second volume.

An Indian traveller, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan was born in 1752 at Lucknow in Hindustan and died in Calcutta in 1806. 

After serving in the army of the Nawab of Oudh, he embarked for Europe on 16 February 1799 with his friend Captain David Richardson.

Following a three-month stay at the Cape, he landed at

Extremely rare collection of three works, in original anonymous editions, devoted to the Eastern Question and the policy France should adopt to counter Russian ambitions in the Ottoman Empire.

The author is believed to be one Mignonneau, a former war commissioner.

Bound in full mottled calf, smooth spine richly decorated with gilt crossbands, brown calf title label, rubbing to joints and spine, gilt roll partially faded on head and tail, triple gilt fillet framing boards, handmade paper endpapers and pastedowns, gilt turn-ins, corners slightly worn, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Minor angular losses to boards, light dampstaining to lower margin of leaves in th

Substantial collection of theses submitted to the Special School of Medicine of Strasbourg between 1803 and 1808, composed in Latin or French and arranged in reverse chronological order.

Contemporary binding in speckled fawn half sheep, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, black sheep lettering-piece partly rubbed, vellum tips, yellow edges, corners worn; period binding.

I. ORDINAIRE (Désiré): Dissertation sur l'influence de l'habitude sur les facultés physiques et morales de l'homme (2 ll. unnumbered, 33 pp.). The Fourierist Désiré Ordinaire (1773-1847) was professor of natural history, then academy inspector and rector of the Academies of Besançon (1821-

Substantial compilation of these three texts setting forth the statutes of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, together with the related legal instruments: royal declarations or edicts, rulings of the Parlement, and a judgment of the Châtelet of Paris. 

The second part sets out in detail the conditions governing the conferral of degrees, while the final section comprises several discourses on medicine.

Bound after the principal work are Hyacinthe Théodore Baron’s "Ritus usus et laudabiles Facultatis medicinae parisiensis consuetudines" and Gabriel Naudé’s "De Antiquitate et dignitate Scolae medicae parisiensis panegyris", published in  Paris by G.F. Qu

First edition.

Our copy is offered unbound.

The dissertation concerned "Les Loix du choc des corps à ressort"; the R. P. Mazière was a priest of the Oratory, born in Pontoise.

A very rare first edition printed on blue paper (only four copies recorded in the CCFr: Aix-en-Provence (2), Angers and Avignon).

Not recorded in Monglond.

Contemporary flexible boards covered in blue marbled paper, speckled edges.

A few scuffs to the covers, spine restored.

With an additional pierced copper plate indicating units and fractions.

The author, a clerk in the Imperial Navy at Toulon, here sets out, in tabular form, a method enabling the rapid conversion of former units of measurement into the metric system, instituted in 1795 but still little used at the time.

The accompanying copper plate bears the engraved inscription: "Le régul

Very rare first edition.

A single copy is held at the Municipal Archives of Lyon. Absent from the CCFr.

Not recorded in Goldsmith, Kress, Einaudi, or Higgs.

Modern Bradel-style binding in full beige boards, printed title label, signed by Hervé.

Lengthy discussion of the trade in tallow, animal fats used in the manufacture of candles.

The authors argue that butchers are not responsible for the high price of tallow, and that the ordinance of 16 April 1771, which prohibited its export, in fact hampers the trade in this commodity. In conclusion, the butchers request not to be placed at the mercy of the chandlers, whether in terms of price or outlets.

Corner

New edition illustrated with 16 folding copper-engraved plates.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (Collège de France, Caen). As such, the volume is not cited by Quérard nor by Cioranescu.

Contemporary temporary blue paper boards, smooth spine, unlettered. Minor rubbing to the spine-ends.

Some foxing.

As such, the volume is not cited by Quérard nor by Cioranescu. It nevertheless constitutes the exceedingly rare atlas to the second edition of the Histoire de Russie tirée des chroniques originales, published in the same year, 1800, in 8 volumes of text.

The first edition had appeared in 1782 in five duodecimo volumes and, compiled from the extens

First edition of these important memoirs covering the years 1747 to 1783 (cf. Sabin 39271).

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spine gilt with fillets, roulettes and floral tools, some rubbing with small losses of leather at the foot of the upper board, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges, marbled edges; period binding.

Upper cap and corners restored.

The duc de Lauzun (1747–1793) accompanied the comte de Rochambeau during the French expedition to America; he recounts this campaign in his Mémoires, pp. 339–375.

The editorial history of this publication deserves notice: the original manuscript having not been recovered, the text—issued some twelve times

First edition of this rare imprint from the Vivarais.

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (Grenoble).

Contemporary half brown cloth binding, smooth spine without lettering with a small scuff, boards of vat-made paper; a modest 19th-century binding. 

Charles La Font de Savine (1742–1814), Bishop of Viviers and later of Ardèche (1778–1793), was one of only four bishops in office in 1789 to swear the constitutional oath. The "citoyen Savine" was subsequently required to surrender his pectoral cross and all episcopal insignia, together with his letters of priesthood, on 1 December 1793, and to resign his public office as bishop of the diocese of Ardèche; arrested as a suspect

First edition of this biblical poem later set to music by Mondonville (cf. Barbier II, 970; Cioranescu 63676).

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (1711–1772), violinist, conductor and composer, wrote several operas, oratorios and pastorals, as well as works for harpsichord and sacred music.

He directed the Concert spirituel between 1755 and 1762.

Claude-Henri de Fusée de Voisenon (170–1775), a friend of Voltaire, a familiar figure in the salons and much in favour with Madame de Pompadour, was elected to the Académie française in 1762.

He left a body of dramatic works, novels and tales.

A date inscribed at the head of the title-page, which shows small spots a

Second edition, largely original in its own right as it was substantially enlarged, to which was added a "Lettre sur l'instruction des aveugles", addressed to the author in 1816 by Mr Isaac Roquès of Montauban, himself blind, together with a selection of his poems.

Our copy is preserved in its plain grey temporary wrappers, the spine faded and showing small losses.

The first edition had been issued at the same Montauban address in Year VI of the Republican calendar.

Scarce new edition, illustrated with a folding plate printed on a separate leaf.

According to the CCF, copies are recorded only under the date 1826.

Bound in full fawn marbled paper boards, smooth spine, unlettered; modern binding.

A rare edition, though not the first: the approval printed at the end of the volume is dated 30 August 1766 for the censor’s permission (yet no public holding records a copy earlier than 1799). Contemporary manuscript ex-libris of Gabory Dodin, dated 24 July 1817.

First edition.

The CCF records only the minutes of the sessions of December 1787 and January 1788, published at Narbonne (Veuve Besset).

A very rare report of the first sitting of the provincial assembly of Roussillon, held in three sessions (20, 21 & 22 October 1787), preliminary to the sessions of the following December and January, but apparently overlooked by most historians.

First edition (see Cioranescu, XVIII, 13 365).

Contemporary full speckled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with gilt fleurons, faded gilt roll tooling to the headcaps, a scratch at the head of the spine, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, corners rubbed, speckled edges; binding of the period.

The sole edition of the author’s only work, written by the prior of Saint-Didier-en-Bourbonnais [Saint-Didier-la-Forêt], about whom little else is known.

A very concise overview of the events of each ecumenical council, from Nicaea I onwards.

First edition, issued in a very small number as an offprint from the Bulletins de la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, t. CXCI et CXCII.

Not recorded by Quérard.

The pamphlet is illustrated with three folding technical plates, engraved by Normand fils.

Bradel binding in paper-covered boards entirely clad in blue paper, with a black vertical spine label showing minor losses; a modern binding.

The work describes the apparatus devised by the chocolatier Auger, which made it possible to reduce any animal, vegetable or mineral substance to "poussières impalpables, aériformes ou éthérées".

Héricart de Thury, Chief Engineer in the Royal Co

First edition (cf. Crowley 931. David 132. Poletti 92: "Rara").

Contemporary half tan sheep, smooth spine tooled in gilt with floral motifs and gilt fillets, red morocco lettering-piece with a small loss and a scuff, lower headcap lacking, marbled paper boards, marbled edges, period binding.

This celebrated "Manuel du Dentiste permit d'acquérir les indispensables connaissances théoriques…" (Besombes, Hist. de l'Art Dentaire, 282)."

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a folding plate entitled "Système dentaire des oiseaux" (see Crowley 916; David, p. 127; Poletti 90).

Occasional light foxing; a tear along the left margin of the plate not touching the engraved figures.

Contemporary half tawny calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools and fillets; a restored snag at the head of the spine, which also shows some rubbing; marbled paper boards, marbled edges.

First edition of the treatise "qui comprend la structure et les fonctions de la bouche, l'histoire de ses maladies, les moyens d'en conserver la santé et la beauté, et les opérations particulières à l'art du dentiste" (cf. Crowley 846. David p. 125. Poletti p. 49.)

Half brown calf binding, the smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt panels; rubbing to the spine and joints; marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; late 19th-century binding.

A few minor spots of foxing.

Illustrated with an engraved title-page, an allegorical frontispiece, and 13 copper-engraved plates printed hors texte.