Incunabula, editio princeps and first editions of major works from 15th to 18th century

First edition.

Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Red morocco title label. One hole at foot. Corners rubbed and folded. Rubbed throughout. 2 blank leaves intended for notes have been inserted every 2 leaves, most have remained blank, those bearing notes concern the bailliage of Dourdan. Leaf 7 has been bound by error after the preliminary pages. Wormholes from p. 160 to 192 in lower margin, in the center.

New édition, illustrated with 4 folding plates (tree of consanguinity, tree of affinities, genealogy of Charles Le Bel and Blanche de Bourgogne, of Louis XII and Jeanne de France)

Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands decorated. Beige morocco title label. Rubbing to headcaps, joints, edges and corners; handsome copy, fresh.

Bookplate: Library of the Grand Seminary of Versailles, and stamp on title page.

Second Elzevir edition of Milton's first text, which was originally published in 1651 in Amsterdam. First edition of Milton's Second and Third Defences.
Full polished tobacco calf bindings, ca. 1820. Spines with raised bands, decorated with four floral tools, fillets and rolls. Chocolate morocco title and volume labels. Cold-stamped border on the boards with small corner fleurons. Inner roll-tooled border. All edges gilt. A handsome copy.


NB: This volume is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.

First edition.

Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Brown sheep title label. Headcap torn away. Loss to upper joint at head. Upper joint split at tail with loss. Library label at head. Corners very much bumped. 

Illustrated first edition. Faerno's verses appeared for the first time in 1564, and Perrault's version in 1699. This edition gives for the first time Faerno's original text followed by Perrault's translation. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Claude du Bosc representing Aesop among animals, and 100 unsigned headpieces (9 x 11 cm). The preliminary leaves contain some poems by the neo-Latin poet and some letters.

Full aubergine morocco binding from the late 19th century signed Chatelin in the frieze. Richly ornamented spine with raised bands. Title, date and place in gilt. Central framing à la Du Seuil with fleurons in the corners and 4 large fleurons inside the rectangle...

First edition, rare, of the only two volumes published of this ambitious Histoire générale des guerres, printed in Paris by the Imprimerie royale in 1756 and 1758. Conceived as a work in three great periods extending from the earliest times to 1748, the project was never continued beyond these two volumes devoted to Armenia and the peoples of Asia Minor. The first volume is illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece and a large folding genealogical table.

First edition of these two works.

Full marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title label. One lack at head, same at foot. Upper joint open at head and foot. 3 corners slightly bumped. Lacking the lower margin of pages 97 to 128.

First edition.
Full mottled brown calf bindings. Spines with raised bands, gilt-tooled. Title and volume labels in Havana morocco. Losses at the head of volume I. Upper border of volume I partly trimmed. Abrasions to the boards with a loss on the lower board of volume I. Overall, a good copy.

First edition.
Full vellum binding with flaps, reused circa 1920. Smooth spine. Title calligraphed in red and black. Manuscript writing on covers, probably late 18th century. Bound on uncut wrappers, as issued. Worming to title page.
Autobiographical memoirs of a louse, which passing from head to head, embellishing its confessions with philosophical reflections, finds itself on the queen's head, then on that of Benjamin Franklin. It is essentially a political satire of affairs between France and the United States, featuring fictional dialogues, notably between the Minister of the Navy and Benjamin Franklin. It reveals a grand project consisting of seizing England to share it...

First edition, rare.

Contemporary full speckled blonde sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with roulette at head and tail. Beige morocco title label. Lower board extensively affected by old dampstaining which has whitened and blackened the leather. 4 corners slightly bumped. Good copy with elegant spine.

First edition of this important work by Pierre Louvet devoted to the history of Provence, published in Aix in 1676 in two volumes. It forms the first part of the three major works that Louvet was to devote to the province, followed by L’Histoire des troubles de Provence in 1679 and the Additions et illustrations sur les deux tomes de l’Histoire des troubles de Provence in 1680, the latter two both published in Aix by Charles David.

The present copy is illustrated with an armorial frontispiece and 27 engraved portraits. The iconographic make-up varies considerably between...

First edition.
Bound in slightly later (ca. 1820) half navy sheep. Smooth spines decorated with four small tools and fillets. Some rubbing, particularly to the boards. A pleasing copy, relatively clean, printed on good laid paper.

The rare first edition published anonymously, illustrated with a large folding map of the thirteen Swiss cantons and five folding plates.

Contemporary full sheep binding, spine with five raised bands ornately gilt in compartments with roulette work and fleurons, as well as a red title-label, covers ruled in blind, all edges speckled red. Head damaged with loss, foot rubbed, two corners bumped and an abrasion to the front board. Worming to upper inner margin throughout the volume, another slightly more extensive from page 207, without loss to text.
Contemporary manuscript gift inscription on the title page.

A handsome copy.

Complete first edition in six volumes, illustrated with decorative headpieces. 

Contemporary bindings in full marbled brown calf, spines with six raised bands decorated with red morocco title and volume labels, fleurons and double gilt frame fillets, triple fillets stamped in blind framing the boards, double gilt fillets on the leading edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges marbled. Title pages in red and black. Headcaps worn, title labels of volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 and volume labels of volumes 4, 5 and 6 missing, some lacks to the compartments, leather split at the joint of the first volume, joints of other volumes often slightly cracked at head or foot, boards and...

First and only edition of this major scientific and commercial account devoted to the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and Persia, exceptionally rare complete with its atlas. The first two volumes are dated 1799, Volumes III and IV 1802, and Volumes V and VI 1807, reflecting the eight years required to complete publication of this monumental work. Issued in octavo, the work was also published in a large-paper quarto edition. The atlas, itself in first edition, comprises 50 plates issued in three instalments: the first devoted to the Ottoman Empire (17 plates), the second to Egypt and Persia (plates 18–33), and the third to the journey through Persia proper (plates 34–50). It...

First edition, rare. Printer's device on title page. Edition prepared by René Du Bellay, author of the epistle. Decorated initials.
Seventeenth-century binding in full glazed blonde sheep. Decorated spine with raised bands. Tan morocco title label. Head torn away. Upper joint split; lower joint partly split. A library label at head. Traces of dampstaining on the last leaves of text and index, but paper overall fresh. Corners very bumped, with borders partly worn.
Undoubtedly the most important chronicle of François I's reign by important actors and witnesses of that time; the Du Bellay brothers were indeed in the king's service as soldiers. These memoirs cover the period from...

First edition, illustrated with 4 very attractive headpieces by Pronk, 4 tailpieces and 13 folding plates on polyps. Armorial copy with the arms stamped on the spine (ermines and macles) of the Rohan-Chabot family. The armorial bindings of the Rohan and Rohan-Chabot families have the distinctive feature of bearing the heraldic devices exclusively on the spine.

Contemporary full blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with crowned ermines and macles. Joints entirely cracked. Headcaps worn. Corners slightly bumped from rubbing. Occasional minor worming, final plates with upper margin soiled.

It was in these memoirs that...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Mellan and a portrait of the author by Champaigne engraved by Nanteuil, published posthumously by the author's nephew, Martin de Pinchesne.
Contemporary late 18th-century full mottled calf. Spine with raised bands, richly gilt in a grotesque pattern with two alternating tools. Pink calf lettering-piece. Joints split at the head. Worming at the foot. Two corners bumped. Some rubbing. A few leaves evenly browned, others lightly yellowed. Headcap clumsily restored. Yellow dampstain to the lower outer corner of the first 30 pages.

First edition, with a frontispiece signed L.F.D.B. Title page in red and black.
Full marbled brown sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with acorn tools framed by foliage. Red morocco title label. One lack at head. One tear with loss at tail. Corners slightly bumped. Lacking the 2 marbled endpapers at the beginning of the work.
A Turk is sent by his sovereign to the principal courts of Europe to bear witness. The narrator begins his journey through Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, then passes through Poland, finally to Vienna... The letters deal with varied subjects, European affairs, the power of Austria, French affairs, opinions on eunuchs, Amsterdam and the East India...

French first edition, following the English first edition of 1763.
Copy with the arms of Anne-louis-Alexandre de Montmorency, (D'or à la croix de gueules cantonnée de seize alérions d'azur ordonnés 4 et 4) lieutenant-general of the king's armies, captain of the king's guards.
Contemporary full speckled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 alérions of the Montmorency family. Arms stamped on covers. Red morocco title label. Rubbing. Spine browned. 2 corners slightly bumped. Browning to margins of half-title and title page, small worming in margins. Handsome copy.
Lady Montagu was the wife of the English ambassador to Constantinople. The principal interest of...

First edition, with the illustrations of the author (often missing) and 79 plates (plate 27-28 double page) hors texte steel-engraved by Forestier after drawings by Antoine Chazal.
Strictly contemporary Romantic binding in brown calf, spine in six compartments richly decorated with gilt fillets and blindtooled arabesques, boards with blindtooled arabesques to corners, double fillet frame and gilt initials ‘A.D.' to centre, gilt roulette framing marbled endpapers and pastedowns, double gilt fillets to edges of covers. Binding very skilfully restored.
Jacques-Pierre Maygrier (1771-1835) was a student of Antoine Dubois, the obstetrician of Empress Marie-Louise. He practiced at the...

First edition. Dorbon no. 4403: "rare, full of singular documents." Caillet [III, 9922] 
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Spine gilt-tooled in compartments. Brown morocco title-piece. Loss at head of spine. Corners worn and somewhat clumsily restored. A filled loss on lower cover. Scattered foxing. A waterstain at one corner of the final leaves. Several gatherings protruding. 

The rare first edition, illustrated with a title-frontispiece and 22 plates after paintings by Eustache Le Sueur and engraved by François Chauveau. Captions of the engravings in two columns, one verse in Latin, with its translation alongside. Brunet III, 1020.
Half chocolate-brown glazed shagreen binding circa 1860 with corners, signed L. Fixon at the bottom of the last leaf. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Engraved title, as well as the initials S. D. Tears with lacks to the lower board. Cut to one corner of the lower board and corner slightly bumped. Some rubbing. Fine copy, very fresh.
Le Sueur painted between 1645 and 1648 the cycle of the life of Saint Bruno, a set of 22...

Rare first edition.
Contemporary full tree calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with two gilt tools and two grotesque panels. Red morocco title labels. Black wax volume labels, heavily rubbed and faded. Head- and tailcaps and the upper and lower joints and corners very discreetly restored. A scratch on one board. A handsome, clean copy.