Tarsis et Zélie

New illustrated edition in first printing. The illustration comprises three frontispieces by Cochin, Moreau and Eisen, engraved by Gaucher, Ponce and Née; and 20 headpieces by Eisen, engraved by Helman, De Longueil, Masquelier and Massard. Elegant illustration with careful page layout.
Full blonde tortoiseshell calf bindings. Spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons, as well as red and green sheep title and volume labels. Covers framed with triple gilt fillets. Gilt dentelles framing the pastedowns. All edges gilt. Head and foot of first volume with small lacks, those of the other two volumes rubbed. Five corners bumped. Numerous and scattered foxing (mainly at the beginning of the first volume).
A novel originally published in 1665, which received its first illustration in 1720, this biographical episode disguised and transformed into a Greek pastoral tells of the misfortunes and adventures that prevented and delayed Le Vayer's marriage to Mlle Servin. The varied narrative draws its inspiration from Greek and Latin novels (Heliodorus's Aethiopica) or Cervantes's Persiles and Sigismunda. This novel, quite appreciated in its time, was adapted for opera in an eponymous work by Francoeur and Rebel.