First editions and first illustrated editions of literature classics from 15th to 18th century in contemporary bindings

Rare first edition of one of the most remarkable Dutch emblem books of the seventeenth century, illustrated with an engraved title bearing the device "SPE ET METU" and fifty-one emblems designed by Adriaen van de Venne and engraved by the artist himself together with Willem van de Passe, Johannes Gelle, Christoffel Le Blon the Elder, Albert Poel and Jan Gerritsz Swelinck.

Although the title page bears the imprint of the Amsterdam bookseller Jan Evertsz Cloppenburgh, the volume was printed in Middelburg by Hans van der Hellen, in Johan de Brune's native city. The first edition is thought to have comprised...

First edition of this complete collection, including the portrait of Cochin as frontispiece. Some of the memoirs had appeared in 1773, but the collected edition that brings them all together is indeed dated 1774; certain pieces are dated 1773 as they were added after the title page bearing the 1774 date. Although the pagination varies, the collection contains only one general title page; some memoirs have half-titles, others do not.
Contents of the collection: Mémoires de M. Caron de Beaumarchais contre M. Goezman, Supplément au mémoire à consulter, Addition au Supplément du mémoire à consulter, Requeste d'atténuation pour le Sr Caron de Beaumarchais...

New edition. Frontispiece portrait of Baillet engraved by Edelinck. Title pages printed in red and black.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf. Spine with raised bands adorned with four gilt-stamped sunflower motifs in panel compartments. Red morocco title label, tan morocco volume label. The volume label for volume II is missing, but the impressed characters remain legible. Scuffing and scratches to several covers, notably volume I. Worming in volume I, affecting preliminary leaves 1 to lxiii, from the inner margin toward the text with some loss of letters, and a wormhole running through. One gallery to the lower board of volume I. In volume III, two wormholes from the beginning to p...

Rare first edition decorated with ornamental headpieces, letterheads and culs-de-lampe.

Posterior binding in full red morocco, Jansenist spine, gilt date at the foot, marbled endpapers, frame of gilt roll-tooling on the pastedown endpapers, all edges gilt.
A very beautiful copy of one of the most famous plays in the French repertoire. It was played for the first time on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and received a mixed reception. At the head of this edition is a preface by the playwright responding to his critics:

“Of all the works that I have given to the public, there is none
that attracted more applause and nor...

First edition of the republication of this rare and anonymous text by Louis Lacour. By this date, the Académie des bibliophiles had published 18 rare and forgotten texts, bibliophilic curiosities. Limited edition of 200 numbered copies on laid paper, No. 10. Title page in red and black.

Contemporary half red shagreen binding with corners signed Gaetan Ronner at the top of the endpaper. Smooth spine. Gilt title. Uncut throughout. 

Bookplate: Library of Count F. de Rohan Chabot.

The author of this piece wrote this account based on the testimony given to him by Madame de Grammont. He depicts the Duke of Choiseul visiting the Princess of Guéménée while she was...

Very rare first edition for Le Gouté des porcherons, with the complete title Nouv. ed. augm. des Citrons de Javotte, histoire de carnaval. Et enrichie d'une Lettre amoureuse de M. Jambe de Creux, charbonnier à mademoiselle Catau, ravaudeuse. Le tout pour servir de Dessert au Déjeuner de La Rapée.
Third edition of La Pipe cassée and fourth for Bouquets poissards and Bouquets galants.
Contemporary half-sheep binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and a blonde sheep title-label, paste-paper boards. Some rubbing and minimal paper lacks to boards. First leaves somewhat stained without gravity.
Les Porcherons is a former district of the...

Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated...

Antwerp, Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Ioannem Moretum, 1602. Small duodecimo, 8.2 x 12.6 cm. Three works bound in one volume.

A collection of three portable editions issued by the Plantin Press under the imprint of Jan Moretus: Cl. Claudianus, Theod. Pulmanni Craneburgii diligentia, & fide summa, è vetustis codicibus restitutus. Unà cum Del-Rio notis, 351 pages and 1 unnumbered leaf; Aviani Aesopicarum fabularum liber. A Theod. Pulmanno Craneburgio ex membranis in lucem editus, 29 pages and 3 unnumbered leaves; and Ad Cl. Claudiani V. C. Opera Martini Antonii Del-Rio notae, 90 pages and 3 unnumbered leaves...

First posthumous edition of Jacques le Fataliste et son maître, published in Paris by François Buisson in 1796 on Holland paper. The text is preceded by À la mémoire de Diderot by Jacques-Henri Meister, a close friend of Diderot and Grimm’s successor as director of the Correspondance littéraire.

Contemporary full mottled brown calf, spine with raised bands and gilt decoration, red morocco lettering-piece and black morocco numbering-piece. Small...

New edition. Limited to 150 copies, numbered and initialed by the publisher in manuscript. Copy no. 82. All pages with Renaissance-style chromotypography borders. Initial letters and rules, titles in gold. Preliminary notice by Albert de Rochas.

Modern full raspberry morocco binding signed by Christiane Pesquet. Smooth spine with title along length. Boards with wide bands of fleur-de-lis paper. The same paper is found on the endpapers, the second endpapers with gold paper. Spine uniformly lightened, otherwise handsome copy.

Copy with covers and spine preserved, uncut, full-margined, as issued.

This tale was written at the beginning of the 16th century and...

Rare uniform set of Didot stereotype editions. The title page of each volume is preceded by an advertising and presentation leaf of the edition composed as follows: this stereotype in-18 edition is sold in Paris, by P. Didot l'Aîné and by Firmin Didot. Price in sheets: Ordinary paper, fine paper, laid paper, deluxe laid paper. All the present editions are printed on laid paper or deluxe laid paper. 

François Ambroise Didot perfected the manufacture of laid paper in France in 1780, which was particularly well suited to printing Didot typefaces.
Contemporary full red Russia leather binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 fleurons and multiple roulettes. Decorative frames...

First edition. 2 volumes were added by the publisher in 1807 that the author had removed from the first edition as a precaution. Indeed, the 4 volumes of the first edition attracted severe criticism of the author because certain authors were still living, and Laharpe did not publish the following 2 out of consideration or prudence.

Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with 2 fleurons and 2 urn stamps and roulettes. Owner's name at foot: J. Aubert. Title label and volume label in fawn calf. Garland frame on boards. Overall rubbed. 4 corners slightly bumped.
This literary correspondence, composed in the manner of Grimm's, is a series of...

New edition. Portrait frontispiece. Title pages in red and black.

Contemporary full glazed brown calf binding. Decorated smooth spine. Brown calf title-label, black calf volume label. Light rubbing. Fine copy, very fresh.
The first two volumes are devoted to the poetic works, the third to the comedies. These works contain the Odes, Cantatas, Epistles, Allegories, Epigrams, and the comedies (Le flatteur, Le capricieux, Le caffé, La ceinture magique). Jean-Baptiste Rousseau was considered the greatest lyric poet of his time; he is especially credited with writing the first French cantatas, this secular genre that was set to music by the most brilliant composers...

New illustrated edition with 232 figures, principally by Borel. Volume XIV contains an additional suite by Moreau, a suite by Marillier and another anonymous suite. Copy on vellum paper, the figures on heavy vellum. At the end of the publisher's notice, a leaf with the price of works: the 20 volumes in-18, fine paper, in wrappers with 18 engravings...30Fr. The same with 212 engravings, in wrappers...60Fr. The same, 17 volumes, deluxe vellum paper, figures from first proofs...120Fr. The volumes may be purchased separately by works. While at Princeton University and the Royal Library of Denmark one finds only the edition in 20 volumes with 18 engravings, this copy proves more desirable in...

New edition, after the original published in 1627 under the title: De proxeneta seu De prudentia civili. One frontispiece title.
Copy with the cipher and arms of the Duke and Duchess of Montausier.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Spine decorated with the crowned cipher of the Duke and Duchess of Montausier (repeated 3 times in each compartment). Brown sheep title label. Boards stamped with arms and ciphers in the corners and triple fillet frame. Red edges. Paper browned. Skilful and fine restorations to headcaps, joints and corners. Gilding faded in places. Good copy.
Major figure of the 17th century, Charles de Sainte-Maure was made Duke of Montausier and...

Very rare first edition of Cardinal de Retz’s Mémoires, published in three volumes in Nancy by Jean-Baptiste Cusson in 1717, under the imprint “A Amsterdam, & se trouve A Nancy”. Title-pages printed in red and black. Jean-Baptiste Cusson was at the time printer and bookseller to H.R.H. the Duke of Lorraine. Although substantially incomplete when compared with the manuscript as it is known today, this edition marks the first appearance in print of one of the great autobiographical and political works of seventeenth-century France.

New edition revised by the author, illustrated with 4 copper-engraved plates by Morel after drawings by Chaudet (Cohen, col. 927). A sumptuous publication from the press of Pierre Didot l'aîné, the foremost printer of his day. This edition is distinguished from all previous ones by its entirely renewed illustration in a neoclassical spirit, in keeping with the aesthetic of the Directoire period. It is the first to have been revised by the author himself.
Contemporary binding in full red morocco, spine with five raised bands richly decorated with gilt dentelles, fillets and fleurons, boards framed with a double gilt dentelle, gilt roll on the turn-ins and headbands...

Bell's Edition. The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill, Edinburgh, Apollo Press, by the Martins, and London, Apollo Press, by George Cawthorn, 1782-1804, 18mo (8.5 x 13.5 cm).

An important gathering of volumes from John Bell’s celebrated series, uniformly bound at the time: 34 physical volumes, numbered 1 to 35 with volume 8 lacking, that volume having contained parts 5 and 6 of Edmund Spenser’s poetical works. The present set therefore comprises 97 parts actually present out of the 99 that this particular gathering would contain if complete.

First edition. A handsome allegorical frontispiece by François Chauveau engraved by Regnesson, a title vignette by Picart and various very beautiful engraved ornaments: headpieces, tailpieces, initials...

Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Richly decorated spine with raised bands. Brown morocco title label. Head of spine split. Foot with lack. Joint cracked at foot. Corners very bumped.
Works of Latin poetry by Guez de Balzac, the edition prepared by Gilles Ménage. In appendix a selection of letters.

First edition, rare. As the foreword recalls, this short story by Madame de Genlis had originally appeared in the Bibliothèque des romans, volume V.

Contemporary full brown grained sheep binding. Smooth spine with 4 dots and fillets. Black calf title-label. One tear with small loss to upper cover. One corner slightly bumped. Fine copy, fresh. At end: Work by Madame de Genlis sold by the same bookseller.
The forgotten masterpiece of the Comtesse de Genlis, a short story with classical writing that responds so well to the writing precept she established: "clarity, naturalness, purity, elegance are the indispensable marks of good style", and to her conception of the...

Fourth collective edition for the first part and third for the second and third parts, published by Corneille himself. Our copy is adorned with the frontispiece of the first two editions (dated 1645), and the portrait of Corneille by Michel Lasne, dated 1644.

Later bindings in full blue morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, endpapers and pastedowns framed with gilt dentelles of marbled paper, all edges gilt, marbled paper slipcases bordered with morocco, bindings signed by Alix.

Rare and beautiful copy elegantly bound.

New edition. Title pages in red and black. Armillary sphere on the title of volume I, fleuron or cipher on the second volume. Wood engraving of the "Divine Bottle", Volume II, p.327.
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Decorated raised-band spine. Tawny morocco title-label, tawny calf volume label. One lack at head of volume 1. Scuffing to headcaps and raised bands. Overall rubbed. Some foxing. Good set overall.
These works contain: The Life of François Rabelais; Particulars of the life and customs of François Rabelais; Author's Prologue; I. Book of the life, deeds and heroic sayings of Gargantua; II. and III. Books of the heroic deeds and sayings of Pantagruel; Vol.II: IV. Book...