L'éloge de l'yvresse

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

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

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

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

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

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

A pleasing and rare copy.

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