Œuvres de Racine

New edition, adorned with a portrait of the author by Daullé, three headpieces by de Sève engraved by Juste Chevillet, twelve plates engraved by Jacques Aliamet, Jean-Jacques Flipart, Noël Le Mire, Louis-Simon Lempereur, Dominique Sornique, and Jacques-Nicolas Tardieu, and thirteen vignettes and sixty tail-pieces, all by de Sève engraved by Jean-Charles Baquoy, Jean-Jacques Flipart, and Louis Legrand.

A superb copy of the first luxury edition of Racine, among the most sought-after, bound in the most sumptuous red morocco.

Contemporary full red morocco, spine with five raised bands and gilt compartments, triple gilt fillet border, corner fleurons, yellow morocco lettering pieces and volume numbers, double gilt fillets on the boards, marbled endpapers, double gilt fillet on the edges, gilt dentelle turn-ins, gilt edges. Occasional light foxing, mostly on the early leaves of the volumes; some browned pages; skilfully restored corners and joints; a few scratches.

Provenance: Library of Jean Fürstenberg, his red morocco bookplate pasted to the verso of a free endpaper of vol. I, others in paper in vols. II and III. “From a family of Berlin bankers and a banker himself, Hans Fürstenberg took refuge in France in 1938 and francised his name. It was then that he presented to the Bibliothèque nationale his collection of original editions of German works from the pre-classical and classical periods. […] From his youth, Jean Fürstenberg also collected illustrated books, rare French eighteenth-century works, incunabula, and bindings, maintaining his interest in these fields throughout his life and publishing several works on the subjects. In 1959, together with Julien Cain, he founded the International Association of Bibliophily.” (Comité d’histoire de la Bibliothèque nationale de France)