Oeuvres complettes, publiées par M. Rigoley de Juvigny

The most complete collected edition of the works of Alexis Piron, edited by Rigoley de Juvigny. Portrait of the author at the head of the first volume, engraved on copper by Augustin de Saint-Aubin after Caffieri. As very often, the eighth volume, comprising the Œuvres badines, is not included here. A wide-margined copy. Title pages in red and black.
Copy with the cipher DB crowned with a count's coronet stamped in blind on the upper covers.
Contemporary full marbled calf bindings. Raised spine bands decorated, roulettes at head and tail. Red morocco title labels, and black morocco volume labels. Blue speckled edges. A lack along the upper joint at the tail of volume 1. Scattered foxing in volume 4. Rubbing at headcaps, joints and corners, but a very fine set, particularly fresh.
Complete collection of Piron's theater, tales, and pieces in verse and prose. The author began his career with epigrams and witticisms (a talent found in the Tales), then turned to comedy working for comic opera and fairground theater. His tragedies, although they attempt to renew a moribund genre at the time, are not his best efforts. Piron created the play that remains his masterpiece in 1738: La métromanie, of which Grimm said it would endure as long as there is theater and taste in France.