Gift Ideas – Antique Books

First edition.

"Voulons & Nous plaist, qu'à commencer au premier Mars prochain, aucuns de nos Sujets de quelque estat, condition & sexe qu'ils soient, à l'Exception de ceux qui en auront obtenu nostre permission par Ecrit, ne puissent porter des Diamans, Perles et Pierres precieuses, à peine de confiscation & de Dix mille livres d'amende : Faisons deffenses sous la mesme peine, à compter du premier Avril prochain d'en faire entrer dans le Royaume ; N'entendons néantmoins comprendre dans la presente prohibition les Bagues Episcopales & les Pierreries employées aux Ornemens des Eglises".

Rare first edition, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, two copper-engraved plates, and twenty-five woodcut figures in the text (cf. Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica, 8648, which records only an edition of 1788).

A few light spots of foxing; two dampstains affecting some leaves.

Contemporary half tan calf, the smooth spine faded and decorated with gilt rolls, fillets and floral tools, gilt initials at the foot; some rubbing and two small black stains to the spine; marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

First edition of this particularly engaging monograph, written by the Dutch pastor Gerard Croese (1642-1710), and translated into English as early as 1696 although never into French.

A few minor spots of foxing.

Full green vellum binding, spine faded and tooled with small gilt ornaments, the title-piece largely lost, speckled green edges, a contemporary binding.

Partly informed by letters and documents supplied by William Sewel (1653-1720, himself the author in 1717 of an excellent Histori van de Opkompste, Aanwas en Voortgang der Christenen bekend by den naam van Quakers), it offers an account of the movement at a particularly significant moment in its...

First edition.

Our copy is offered in loose sheets, unbound.

First edition of this defence of the exclusive privilege of the Compagnie des Indes, then being challenged by the deputies of the National Assembly.

This memorandum is signed by Le Couteux du Mollay, Greffulge, Boyd, Dangirard, Picquet, and Le Cocq, commissioners representing the Company’s shareholders.

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, issued in the temporary blue waiting covers.

A central fold throughout, rubbing with losses to the waiting covers, otherwise a pleasingly clean copy internally.

First edition describing 1,539 entries.

Bound in modern brown half shagreen over marbled paper boards, smooth spine lettered in blind, corners rubbed, bookplate pasted to the front pastedown; a modest modern binding.

Occasional light foxing.

Provenance: copy from the library of the Canadian bookseller G. S. Terence Cavanagh (1923–2005), also librarian of the Trent Collection, with his bookplate pasted to the front pastedown.

Rare first edition of this pamphlet printed at Carouge, Switzerland. Deschamps, 276, records 1789 as the date of the first book printed in that town (on the authority of a note by Ternaux).

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, within a modern blank temporary cover.

Title-page and final leaf slightly soiled, early marginal note in the right margin of p. 19, blue pencil annotations at the foot of pp. 10 & 11.

A text violently hostile to Kellermann (1735–1820) and to the French presence in the Alps.

Kellermann commanded the Army of the Alps while Bonaparte was conducting his Italian campaign.

First edition (cf. Quérard II, 140).

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, under the plain pink provisional cover; the spine is split and faded with losses, and there are small marginal tears to the covers.

A scholar and statesman from Île de France (present-day Mauritius), J.-F. Charpentier de Cossigny (1736–1809) was elected deputy for the island to the Constituent Assembly. He returned there in 1800, sent by Bonaparte to announce the advent of the Consular regime and to serve as Director of gunpowder manufacture in Port Louis.

But because he sought to employ enslaved workers while paying them as free men, he encountered such fierce opposition...

First illustrated edition with 5 plates (cf. Coll. Émile Brouwet, II (2), 168).

Half black shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets, title lettered lengthwise in gilt, joints and caps rubbed, title repeated on the upper cover, paper labels pasted to the lower left corner of the upper cover and the upper left corner of the inside back cover, bookplate pasted to the inside back cover, original front wrapper preserved, corners worn, mid-19th-century binding.

Some light foxing.

The five finely line-engraved plates by Cavelier and Pierron after drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon bring together a selection of pieces of imperial furniture.

The...

First edition (cf. Neu 838.)

Light foxing.

Contemporary full tan sheep, the spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt panels and gilt floral tools; some rubbing and small defects to the spine, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, surface wear to the boards, red edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, corners a little softened; a period binding.

First edition of this collection of anecdotes and allegories drawn from Turkish, Arabic and Persian manuscripts held at the Royal Library (cf. Quérard, II, 50. Brunet, 19466. Cioranescu, 15566. Graesse, p. 46. Goedeke, 651.)

Contemporary half calf with corners, the flat spine gilt with decorative garlands, the spine rubbed and crazed, cherry-coloured calf lettering-piece, green paper-covered boards, yellow edges, small nicks to the extremities.

Denis-Dominique Cardonne (1721-1783) lived in Constantinople for twenty years, from 1730 to 1750, where he learned Turkish, Arabic and Persian.

On his return to France he was appointed the King’s secretary-interpreter for...

Second edition (cf. Quérard I, 529: records “Broussonnet”. Colas 457.)

Reflections on fashion and elegant dress in antiquity; the first edition, published in 1799, appeared under the name of one of the author’s pupils. 

Rare copy preserved in the original wrappers.

Second edition of this treatise, first published in 1771 and reissued again in 1813 (see Mennessier de La Lance I, 162).

Our copy is offered stitched, in its provisional blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced with an adhesive strip.

Second edition, partly original, as enlarged (cf. Barbier II, 241: gives "Deslandes". Polak 1130. INED 737. See Sabin 19744 for the first English edition published the same year.)

Full brown sheep binding, smooth spine gilt-ruled and decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, rubbing to the joints, gilt rolls on the head- and tailcaps partly dulled, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges faint in places, red edges, a period binding.

Some repairs to the spine.

Pages 191 to 252 contain the "Mémoire historique sur les Indes Braves, et les Forbans François du Golfe de Darien".

This edition appeared in the same year as the...

First edition of this important treatise, illustrated with 13 folding plates and inspired by the example of Fauchard, as the author himself acknowledges in his preface: "M. Fauchard (…) a été mon guide, & quand j’ai pu marcher sans guide, j’ai appris à respecter mes maîtres, à les abandonner quelquefois, & à ne diminuer jamais en rien l’estime qui leur est due."

See Garrison & Morton 3673.1. David, p. 39. Poletti, p. 16. Crowley, 783.

Contemporary full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt floral tools within gilt panels, morocco lettering-pieces in bronze calf, volume pieces partly faded, gilt rolls to the headcaps...

Very rare first edition of this french translation of Boerhaave’s Aphorismi (1709), issued by La Mettrie in the very year of the author’s death (most bibliographies record only the 1739 edition), (cf. Wellcome II, 185).

Contemporary half brown sheepskin with corners, spine with four raised bands ruled in blind, lacking title label, minor losses at the headcaps and rubbing to the spine, red speckled edges, period binding restored.

A collection of precepts concerning diagnosis and therapy.

La Mettrie was a pupil of Boerhaave at Leiden, which accounts for the lasting interest he showed throughout his life in the writings of the Dutch physician.

Bound...

New edition of the French translation known as the Port-Royal version, prepared by the theologian Louis-Isaac Le Maistre de Sacy.

The first edition of this “Nouveau Testament de Mons” had appeared in 1667.

This is the final edition printed by Daniel Elzevier.

Contemporary full black morocco, spine with five raised bands gilt with decorative rolls and richly gilt compartments, minor rubbing to spine and boards, covers framed with triple gilt fillets and gilt corner fleurons, red morocco doublures entirely covered with an elaborate gilt interlacing design and small dotted tools, comb-marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, corners slightly bumped, gilt rolls to the turn-ins...

Rare group of six fascicules, all in the original edition.

Bradel-style binding in green mottled boards, smooth unlettered spine, printed title label mounted at the centre of the upper cover; modern binding.

Not recorded by Polak. Apparently no copy located in the CCFr.

A stain at the head of the title page.

This curious compilation, bearing almost no identifying information, appears to be particularly rare.

It contains:

- 1. A notice to mariners concerning the change in the lighting of the lighthouse in the Bay of the Somme, scheduled for 25 Pluviôse, Year IX [14 February 1801].

- 2. An instruction on filters for purifying water, signed by the...

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

Contemporary full old red morocco, smooth spine gilt with friezes and fleurs-de-lys, one joint split at the head, boards framed with triple gilt fillets, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate laid down on a pastedown, gilt edges to the boards, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt; binding of the period.

This rather scarce issue was published without interruption from 1744 to 1789. 

Provenance: from the library of the heraldist Olivier Le Bas, with bookplate laid down on a pastedown.

An attractive copy, handsomely bound in contemporary full red morocco.

A very rare first edition.

Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIe siècle. Aix, vol. I, p. 36:5. Lindsay & Neu, French Political Pamphlets 1547–1648. A single copy recorded in WorldCat (Chicago, Newberry Library).

Our copy is offered disbound, in sheets, preserved in plain marbled paper wrappers, with an early manuscript label on the upper cover.

Répertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIe siècle. Aix, vol. I, p. 36:5. Lindsay & Neu, French Political Pamphlets 1547–1648. A single copy recorded in WorldCat. A rare example bearing on the title an early contemporary manuscript annotation: “du 11 avril...

First edition of the French translation (cf. Bruun (Christian), Bibliotheca Danica, V, 235.)

Contemporary uniform marbled full calf bindings, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, decorated with faded gilt fillets, gilt compartments and floral tools, gilt roll tooling to the caps partly rubbed, marbled endpapers, gilt rules to board edges, corners lightly bumped, contemporary bindings.

Some restorations to several joints and a few spines.

The first volume is devoted to Holland and Denmark, the second to Sweden and Russia, the third deals exclusively with Russia, and the fourth concerns Poland.

A pleasing copy.

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...

Second edition (cf. Quérard IX, 429.).

Our copy remains in the original stitching, in temporary wrappers showing numerous losses and a cracked backstrip; the margins of some leaves are browned and bear small chips.

The work deals exclusively with the canonical prohibition on clergy wearing wigs; one section is devoted to liturgical and extra-liturgical headgear: birettas, mitres, almuces, hoods, camails, amices, caps, and skullcaps.

Abbot Jean-Baptiste Thiers (1636–1703) was among the most original and learned theologians of the seventeenth century; throughout his life he opposed superstition and the misuse of religious practices.

First edition (cf. Cioranescu, XVII, 63 055. Blackmer 1543. Atabey 1135.)

Contemporary full tawny sheep, spine with four raised bands decorated in gilt, the ornaments nearly entirely rubbed away, rubbing to spine and covers, red-speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Lacking the title label, binding heavily rubbed.

Important work by the Hebraist Richard Simon (1638-1712), constituting one of the finest early histories of the Eastern Churches: Orthodox Greeks, Greek schismatics, Melkites, Georgians or Iberians, Christians of Colchis and Mingrelia, Nestorians, Indians or Christians of St. Thomas, Jacobites, Copts, Abyssinians or Ethiopians, Armenians, Maronites...

First edition (cf. Atabey 1128. Weber 59. Not in Blackmer.)

Half brown sheep binding with small green vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes and amphoras, red Russia morocco title label, hazel-coloured boards, ex-libris pasted to a pastedown; contemporary binding.

Spine restored, a few minor foxing spots.

"This is an important collection of letters written to the antiquary the Comte de Caylus, beginning as early as 1729 and including the period up to 1778. The collection includes the letters of the Abbé Sevin and others, including Anquetil Duperron and Le Roy, but it is especially significant for Peyssonnel's letters to Caylus. It was edited by...

First edition illustrated with 8 engraved plates outside the text by Le Bas after Oudry, including a frontispiece and 6 hunting plates depicting stag hunting scenes (cf. Cioranescu, 60 125. Thiébaud 836-39. Cohen 952, with the often fanciful collation characteristic of this bibliography).

A fine copy complete in all its parts, notably retaining leaf Diij, which is sometimes found supplied in facsimile or replaced by a cancel leaf.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf, spine with five raised bands gilt-ruled and richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers, two engraved bookplates pasted to the endpapers and pastedowns, gilt...

New edition (cf. Sabin 73468.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, lacking the spine and without any provisional binding covers.

England ceded the island of Tobago to France in 1783.

English creditors laid claim to considerable sums from the colonists; a demand deemed unfounded by Roume de Saint-Laurent.

Exceptionally rare first edition of this study in applied mathematics, which had been the subject of a report presented to the Class of Physical Sciences and Mathematics of the Academy of Turin on 26 Ventôse, Year XIII. 

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in provisional speckled green paper covers with a few small losses at the corners.

Some foxing.

Not in Quérard. Only two copies recorded in WorldCat.

Tommaso Valperga di Caluso (1737-1815), Piedmontese orientalist and mathematician, was one of the two signatories of this report.

First edition.

Half pearl-grey calf binding, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt floral ornaments, black morocco title label, author’s name in navy blue morocco, boards covered with decorative patterned paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.

The Centrones (or Ceutrones) were one of the Gallic peoples who controlled the Alpine passes of the Little and Great St Bernard, with Axima (Aime) as their capital.

A few pencil annotations in the margins of certain leaves, minor rubbing to the boards of the binding.

Second edition of this French version (the first having appeared in 1781), approved by the author, of the Memorial most humbly addressed to the sovereigns of Europe, on the present state of affairs (London, July 1780) (cf. Sabin 64827).

Disbound copy, presented in a modern marbled paper wrapper.

This text had in fact been the subject of an earlier translation based on the Translation of the memorial by Edmund Jennings and John Adams, which failed to satisfy Pownall (namely the Pensées sur la Révolution de l'Amérique-Unie, issued with the Amsterdam imprint in 1780).

The substance of the various versions nonetheless converges, forming a...

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...

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...

Rare first edition of the French translation of the Journal of the Resolution (London, 1775), illustrated with a large folding copper-engraved map by E. Dussy, issued without legend.

Cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, 380: "Traduction de la relation apocryphe de Marra". See Hill, 60.

Scattered occasional foxing, a few abrasions to the boards.

Contemporary full marbled tan sheep, spine in five raised bands richly decorated with double gilt compartments, gilt fillets to bands partly rubbed, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt decorative tool at foot of spine, gilt rolls to board edges largely rubbed, marbled endpapers, single gilt fillet to edges, corners worn, marbled...

First edition of the French translation (cf. Blackmer 1752. Not in Weber or Atabey. See Barbier IV, 1083.)

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines gilt tooled in compartments with floral motifs, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges.

Some restorations to a few joints and spines, minor scattered foxing.

Volume IV is entirely devoted to the author’s stay in the Greek islands: Crete, Candia, Damaste, Retimo, Mount Ida, Gortyn, the labyrinth of Crete, Milo, Syphante, Seriphos, Antiparos, Paros, Naxia, Stenofa, Amorgos, Skinosa, Delos, Rhenia, Syra, Cynthos, Zia, Macrounisa, Jura, Tenos, Scio...

Rare first edition (subsequent editions incorporated the successive campaigns, ultimately forming a set of five volumes).

Only two copies of this edition recorded in the CCF (Rouen, Tours).

Nineteenth-century binding in cherry long-grain half morocco with corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt, red paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Minor black marks to the spine, a few light spots of foxing.

The attribution to Thomas Graham, Baron Lynedoch (1748-1843), is traditional; if correct, the work is by a participant in the campaign, who embarked relatively late on his military career: in 1795 he was stationed at Gibraltar, but soon wearied of garrison...

Rare first edition of this occasional piece (a second edition was issued with the Paris imprint), cf. Monglond IV, 232.

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in blue paper over boards, smooth spine ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper-covered boards, a few scuffs to the spine and boards. 

From November 1795, François de Neufchâteau (1750-1828) served as Commissioner of the Executive Directory to the Central Administration of the Vosges, where he devoted himself to the development of agriculture in the department, a pursuit that always remained his foremost interest.

Copy from the library of the lawyer Charles Fournerat (1780-1867) of Ancy-le-Franc, bearing his...

First edition (cf. Rozier 2031.)

Modern half-speckled brown calf over marbled paper boards, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, brown calf title label lettered lengthwise, bookseller's label pasted at the head of a pastedown. Born in Tours in 1750, Nicolas Heurteloup was appointed surgeon trainee on the island of Corsica in 1770.

In 1782, he was appointed chief surgeon of the hospitals of Corsica and, in 1786, was placed in charge of the military hospital at Toulon.

Chief physician in 1790 and principal army surgeon in 1795, he became Inspector General of the Medical Service in 1804 and Surgeon-in-Chief of the Grande Armée in 1808, succeeding...

Second edition, revised and enlarged, illustrated with 7 superb copper-engraved plates by Laurent after drawings by David Massil and Antoine Favray, including 4 folding plates (6 plates in the first volume, 1 in the second).

See Contominas 315. Blackmer 655 (the 1783 edition erroneously records 9 plates). Absent from Atabey.

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spines richly gilt with floral and typographic ornaments, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco volume labels, the latter partially rubbed, gilt rolls to the spine ends partly worn, blue endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Some restorations to the spines and joints, occasional foxing.

This second...

First edition of these curious memoirs by a young officer, illustrated with 2 folding maps (cf. Sabin 27391).

Contemporary half Havana calf over corners, spine with five raised bands richly gilt with floral tools and double fillets, green morocco lettering-piece, rubbing to spine and joints, covers framed in gilt fillets on brick-red percaline boards, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.

Occasional foxing.

In this work, the author recounts, among various observations, the resistance of women at the beginning of the British occupation of 1806; a list, now lost, of the Anglophiles who had sworn allegiance to King George, etc...

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...

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 out-of-text plates, hand-coloured at the time, depicting Morlach costumes (cf. Conlon 78:960. Not recorded by Quérard.)

Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, under the period plain grey covers (spine lacking, covers with tears and detached, corners bumped, a few foxing spots, final endpaper stained at foot).

We have encountered another copy of this work illustrated with a single folding plate containing 3 figures.

Pages 78 to 85 contain a song in the Morlach language, with a French translation printed opposite.

This critical survey of the Dutch possessions in Indonesia survives in three versions — English, French, and Dutch — without it being possible to determine with certainty which constitutes the original edition.

Only three copies are recorded in the CCF. 

Written at the outset of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784), triggered by the early recognition of American independence by the United Provinces, this pamphlet seeks to highlight the weaknesses of the administration of the Dutch East India Company and the vulnerability of its possessions to a French or British attack.

In fact, hostilities quickly turned to the disadvantage of the Dutch, who in 1784 were compelled to...

First edition of this rare catalogue for the sale of the antiquities collection of Claude-Madeleine Grivaud de La Vincelle (1762-1819), deputy head of accounting at the Chamber of Peers, archaeologist, and numismatist.

497 lots are described.

Late nineteenth-century bradel binding in half blue cloth, smooth spine, brown shagreen title label lettered lengthwise, marbled paper boards.

Some minor foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy.

Rare first edition illustrated with a frontispiece, an engraved title, two intaglio-engraved plates, and 25 woodcut figures in the text (cf. Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica, 8648, which records only a 1788 edition).

Contemporary full marbled calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt and panelled, gilt rolls to the spine ends partially rubbed, dark green calf lettering-piece, a few rubs to the spine and joints, gilt fillets to the edges partially faded, corners bumped, red edges.

First edition of this exceedingly rare literary fantasy (cf. Cioranescu, XVIII, 19 432.)

Our copy is preserved in its original temporary marbled paper wrappers, red edges.

A few small tears to the spine, lacking the half-title.

A literary meteoric figure, François-Antoine Chevrier (1721-1762) was chiefly renowned for dipping his pen in vitriol and thereby exposing the flaws and vices of the theatrical world of his time.

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...

First edition, illustrated, featuring at the end of the volume a folding plate bringing together two figures (cf. Quérard II, 130. Poggendorff I, 420. Not in Duveen.)

Bradel binding in full brick-coloured boards, smooth spine, green morocco title label, modern binding.

Chaptal develops ideas he had already set out some ten years earlier in volume VI of the "Mémoires de l'institut, sciences physiques et mathématiques" : he examines the art of restoring faded colours.

Some light, harmless foxing.

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...

A very rare Brescia imprint, dedicated to Prince Eugène and celebrating Napoleon’s successes in the German campaign of 1805.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

A dampstain to the upper right corner of the leaves.

Contemporary cream paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering with tears,  boards soiled, title within a black frame on the upper board and address likewise on the lower board, tears with losses on the lower board, contemporary binding. 

However, dated 26 November of that year, it could not yet include the victory of Austerlitz. Niccolo Bettoni (1770-1842) was a prominent figure of Italian typography at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and...

First edition illustrated with 1 folding plate consisting of a copper-engraved reproduction of the Choiseul Marble by Poisson (cf. Monglond II, 651.)

A restored tear to the verso of the folding plate.

Bradel binding in full marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine, brown shagreen lettering-piece, red edges, modern binding.

A pleasing copy.

First edition of the first work on anonymous and pseudonymous authors published in France (cf. Barbier, I, 320; Besterman, Bibliography of Bibliographies, 398.)

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with richly gilt compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to the edges, yellow speckled edges, engraved armorial bookplate pasted to the pastedown.

The work was intended to serve as a preliminary study for a Recueil français des auteurs déguisés, a project abandoned following the author's death before later being resumed by...

First edition illustrated with a large folding plate inserted out of text reproducing the Greek portion of the Rosetta Stone (cf. Quérard I, 48.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in temporary root-pattern paper covers.

A key figure in the establishment of literary repositories during the Revolution, and their transformation into libraries, the antiquarian Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811) remains an important, though far too neglected, figure in bibliography and the sciences.

This relative oblivion owes much to the small number of works published during his lifetime : the work offered here constitutes an essential link in the decipherment of the...

First edition of this major classification, arranged according to the Linnaean system, describing a thousand plants with remarkable precision (cf. Pritzel 9806.)

Full green vellum bindings, smooth spines tooled with double gilt fillets and gilt rolls, brown calf lettering- and volume-pieces, slight rubbing to the spines, yellow mottled edges, some corners a little softened; contemporary bindings.

The author, Abbé Fulgenzio Vitman (1728–1806), a Florentine botanist, founded the Milan botanical garden after directing that of Pavia.

First edition, illustrated with three folding in-text tables (Cf. Brunet, III, 330. Vivien de Saint-Martin, Voyages faits en Asie Mineure depuis le XIIIe siècle, no. 148. Atabey, The Ottoman World, 1126. Weber, II, 595. Not in Blackmer, but see nos. 1530 & 1531.)

Half calf binding with corners, spine gilt-tooled with lyres and decorative friezes, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of decorative patterned paper.
Restorations with small losses to head and tail of spine, staining to the boards and to the upper and lower margins of the leaves.

This account follows that of the Voyage de Constantinople à Bassora. The journey was undertaken...

Second edition, embellished with a copper-engraved map by Giraud l’aîné, folded, together with a copper-engraved plan of the labyrinth of Knossos by Chapuy.

This edition is not recorded by Contominas, Atabey or Blackmer (1493 for the first edition).

Contemporary half mottled sheep with parchment corners, smooth spine decorated with delicate black fillets, paper labels serving as title pieces, green paper boards with some rubbing, sprinkled edges.

Spine foot restored.

Three gatherings very lightly toned, otherwise a clean, fresh copy.

Bound at the end is the first edition of the French translation prepared by Jean-Claude Pingeron of Dominique Sestini’s work...

First edition of the French translation.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Strasbourg).

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spine gilt in elaborate compartments with gilt floral tools, dark green morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls at head and tail, triple gilt fillet border on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, a period binding.

Restorations to the spine and joints, internally a pleasing copy.

Sole edition. This is a highly partial translation of Mosaisches Recht, published in Frankfurt between 1770 and 1775 in four quarto volumes (five parts).

The real author is not the hypothetical Senger named on the...

First edition (cf. Barbier, III 1145; Monglond, IX 756).

Contemporary half sheep in brown, smooth spine gilt with decorative rolls and stars now partly dulled, joints rubbed, red and dark green morocco lettering-piece, author’s name gilt at the foot, marbled paper boards, a few small abrasions to the edges, corners softened, sprinkled edges, period binding.

Scattered marginal foxing.

Alphonse-Toussaint-Joseph-André-Marie-Marseille, comte de Fortia de Piles (1758–1826), pursued a military career while composing operas, then emigrated during the Revolution and travelled throughout Europe with his friend the chevalier de Boisgelin.

Upon his return to France, he...

Very rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated at the end of the volume with one folding copper-engraved plate and two folding printed tables, all hors texte.

See Oberlé (for the Milan 1819 edition). Lacking from the Kilian Fristch Collection. Vicaire, 353-354.

A rare and appealing copy preserved in its original wrappers, with the plain provisional cover showing some surface wear.

New edition, partly original, expanded with a survey of Persia from the earliest times to the present day, together with annotations by the Orientalist and librarian Louis-Mathieu Langlès (cf. Quérard II, 133; Schwab p. 18; lacking in Blackmer and Atabey).

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spines gilt with decorative rolls and tools, black morocco-style shagreen lettering- and volume-pieces, gilt rolls on the caps (partly faded), gilt dentelle borders on the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

For the folio atlas: contemporary half calf in fawn, smooth spine gilt with rolls and tools, brown lettering-piece, spine with some rubbing and restorations...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with an engraved portrait by Verzy after Longhi as a frontispiece to the first volume, together with five folding tables and five folding plates out of text in the second volume.

Half brown sheepskin bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt garlands now partly faded, some rubbing to spines, modern brown sheepskin title labels, vellum corners, pink paper-covered boards, a few scuffs to the covers, wear to the edges, corners bumped, red edges, contemporary bindings.

Uncommon sole French translation of the Farmacopia generale by the Italian practitioner Brugnatelli (whose given names vary across sources, 1761–1818)...

Scarce sammelband comprising six treatises on dental surgery, some of which are present here in the first edition.

Half blue sheep, the smooth spine decorated with gilt romantic ornaments, marbled paper boards lightly darkened and faded at the margins, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

A faint dampstain to the lower margin of the initial leaves of the first work, a few occasional light spots.

Bound together are:

1. by N. Lefebvre: "La Médecine domestique, petit ouvrage… concernant les moyens de détourner & guérir les maladies par la connoissance & l'usage des plantes", printed in Le Mans by Pivron in 1782 (24 pp.).
2. by Hébert...

First edition, illustrated with 4 large engraved plates printed on separate leaves and bound at the end of the volume.

Our copy is offered in its original wrappers, under contemporary plain paper covers.

Spine worn with tears and losses, internally in good condition.

From the "Description des Arts et Métiers" (1761-1776).

First edition illustrated with 3 folding tables printed on separate leaves in the second text volume and 45 engraved plates, single or folding (3 maps, 42 plans and picturesque views), most with tissue guards, in the atlas volume.

Cf. Gay 266. Toussaint & Adolphe D1100. Ryckebusch II, 5713.

Some foxing throughout the text volumes and atlas.

Bindings in half black glazed calf with corners, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, circles and large gilt fleurons, burgundy calf lettering and volume-numbering labels, boards covered in paste paper with a cold-stamped garland border, light rubbing to spines and boards, bindings slightly later for the text volumes; the...

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.

New edition illustrated with 52 unsigned plates, including 6 frontispieces. Volume V is a continuation of the history of Don Quixote, by the translator Filleau de Saint Martin. Volume VI written by the author Robert Challes. Title pages erroneously indicate 58 figures.
Brown full contemporary roan, stamped in gilt in between raised bands. Title page in red morocco. Small piece of leather lacking to upper part of Volume I, small loss to head of spine. In volume II, upper spine-end torn off and lower spine-end partly missing, some damage to lower cover. Volume III, damaged upper spine-end. Volume IV, lower spine-end missing. Volume V, upper spine-end missing. Volume VI, upper spine-end...

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...

"Vous avez été leurs maîtres, et vous en avez mal agi ; ils sont devenus les vôtres, et ils vous pardonnent ; faites vos réflexions là-dessus." ["You have been their masters, and you have acted badly; they have become yours, and they forgive you; reflect upon this."] (Trivelin, final scene)

Rare first edition decorated with ornamental headpieces, letterheads and culs-de-lampe.

Posterior binding in full red morocco, Jansenist spine, gilt date at the foot, marbled endpapers, frame of gilt roll-tooling on the pastedown endpapers, all edges gilt.
A very beautiful copy of one of the most famous plays in the French repertoire. It was played for the first time on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and received a mixed reception. At the head of this edition is a preface by the playwright responding to his critics:

“Of all the works that I have given to the public, there is none
that attracted more applause and nor...

Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated...

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...

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.

New edition. Title pages in red and black. Armillary sphere on the title of volume I, fleuron or cipher on the second volume. Wood engraving of the "Divine Bottle", Volume II, p.327.
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Decorated raised-band spine. Tawny morocco title-label, tawny calf volume label. One lack at head of volume 1. Scuffing to headcaps and raised bands. Overall rubbed. Some foxing. Good set overall.
These works contain: The Life of François Rabelais; Particulars of the life and customs of François Rabelais; Author's Prologue; I. Book of the life, deeds and heroic sayings of Gargantua; II. and III. Books of the heroic deeds and sayings of Pantagruel; Vol.II: IV. Book...

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...

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...