Oeuvres

Deluxe edition superbly illustrated with 3 engraved titles, a portrait, a frontispiece and 72 figures, 4 vignettes and 66 tailpieces, all by Le Barbier, and engraved by Alix, Baquoy, Dambrun, Delignon, Gaucher, Giraud le jeune, Godefroy, halbou, Langlois jeune, Le Beau, Lépine, Le Villain, de Longueil, Pauquet, Petit, Ponce, Taxier, Thomas, Trière and Viguet. The first plates are numbered and within frames with captions in the lower margin, the following ones bear pagination indications. Some plates are dated, from 1782 to 1792. Fine printing on vellum. 

Contemporary full green morocco binding. Smooth spine decorated with 4 cornucopia tools, and roulettes. Frame roulette on the boards. Roulette on the leading edges and interior. Pink paper on pastedowns. Edges gilt. Traces of rubbing. Darker areas on the boards of volume 2. Spine uniformly lightened. Scattered foxing.

Salomon Gessner; poet, painter and engraver, rapidly acquired great renown throughout Europe for his Idylls, and particularly in France. His lively and simpler prose renewed the genre and the baroque language. He himself published most of his books in his printing house and also illustrated them himself. Besides the Pastorals, songs and others, the edition contains a selection of letters and a short essay on landscape, a genre in which Gessner excelled. The great care brought to the printing, to the engravings, and the remarkable execution of Le Barbier's drawings have contributed to making this work one of the finest of the 18th century.

At the end of volume 3, are found 2 letters from Gessner addressed to Barbier regarding the illustrations, the author also expressing his pleasure with Barbier's dedication to Madame de Genlis.