Histoire de France représentée par figures, accompagnées de discours

First edition of this ambitious illustrated history of France, published by François-Anne David in five volumes between 1787 and 1796. The illustration comprises five engraved titles and 140 full-page plates, here printed in sanguine on stout paper, each volume with a different ornamental border devised to correspond to the historical period it covers. The plates were engraved by David, chiefly after designs by Nicolas Lejeune. This copy belongs to the deluxe issue on wove paper with the plates printed in "bistre sanguin anglais", a format specifically advertised by David in 1794 alongside the ordinary issue printed in black.

The impressions are richly inked, producing a particularly deep and vivid red. Volume IV is printed on a finer, superior, slightly bluish stock; the same paper was used for the half-title and title of Volume II. The long history of the publication is itself recorded in its various dates: Volume I is dated 1787, the engraved title to the Première Race 1788, that to the Troisième Race 1791, while the final volume appeared in Year IV, 1796. Begun under Louis XVI, the work was therefore not completed until the Directory.

Uniform contemporary full polished and mottled blond calf, spines with raised bands and four gilt floral tools within compartments, red morocco lettering-pieces and green morocco volume labels, covers framed with a gilt triple fillet, gilt rolls to the board edges and turn-ins, all edges gilt. Pink and green comb-marbled endpapers. The particularly attractive mottling of the boards and the quality of the gilding lend the set a striking visual unity.

Headcap of Volume I missing, upper joint split at head and foot, one corner bumped. Small loss at head of Volume II and two corners slightly bumped. Small loss at head of Volume III. Corners rubbed. Headcap of Volume IV missing, upper joint narrowly split at foot, lower joint split at head, three corners bumped. Headcap of Volume V missing, footcap worn, upper and lower joints split at head and foot, two corners bumped. Despite these defects, an attractive and remarkably coherent set in bindings of fine quality.

Issued by subscription, the project placed the image at the very heart of the historical narrative. David's role extended far beyond that of an engraver interpreting another artist's designs: as engraver, publisher and driving force behind the undertaking, he personally directed a publication that occupied him for almost a decade. A pupil of Jacques-Philippe Le Bas and a member of the academies of Rouen and Berlin, he was then Engraver to the King's Chamber and Engraver to the Chamber and Cabinet of Monsieur, the King's brother. The successive addresses appearing on his publications also follow his own movements through Paris, from the rue des Cordeliers to the rue Pierre-Sarrazin during the revolutionary years.

The work is dedicated to "Monsieur, frère du Roi" ["Monsieur, the King's brother"], Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, Comte de Provence and future Louis XVIII. The dedication acquires a particular resonance when set against the identities of the men to whom David entrusted the historical commentary. The first three volumes were written by the Abbé Guillaume-Germain Guyot, a former Jesuit who became chaplain to the Duc d'Orléans, Ordinary Preacher to the King and Royal Censor. His reputation as a preacher had taken him to Lunéville before Stanisław Leszczyński, whose support led to his election to the Académie royale de Nancy in 1760; he was also a member of the academies of Caen and Soissons.

From the fourth volume onwards, the commentary was entrusted to Sylvain Maréchal. The change of author alone measures the historical distance travelled during the making of the book. Maréchal was to become one of the more radical voices of the Revolution, a republican journalist, an outspoken opponent of organised religion and an associate of the Babouvist movement, for which he wrote the Manifeste des Égaux [Manifesto of the Equals].

The five volumes thus preserve within their very fabric the chronology of the upheaval through which they passed. Begun in 1787 under the patronage of Louis XVI's brother, this illustrated history of the French monarchy was still being published after the monarchy, the court and the very titles under which it had been conceived had disappeared. In 1796, the year in which its final volume appeared, one of its authors, Sylvain Maréchal, was writing the Manifeste des Égaux: seldom has the time required to complete a book so profoundly altered the meaning of its dedication.