Promenade à travers deux siècles et quatorze salons

First edition, illustrated with numerous engraved plates of salons, furniture and paintings, on heavy paper. Portrait of Rembrandt in double state.
Armorial copy, possibly from the Amaudric du Chaffaut or Bouffard de l'Espinay family. Purpure a dove holding a golden branch, in chief three silver leaves on gold, the whole surmounted by a count's coronet and flanked by two unicorns, with the motto Fidelitas.
Contemporary full camel morocco binding signed on the pastedown L. Petit. Raised-band spine decorated with blind-tooled compartments, arms at foot. Brown morocco title-label. Double blind fillet frame on covers, large arms stamped at centers. Wide and rich inner dentelle. All edges gilt. At top of upper cover, strip slightly lighter.
Baron Léopold Double's collection was sold from May 30 to June 4, 1881, on rue Louis Le Grand. It was one of the most celebrated of its time for its quality and scope, and constituted the first great collection of decorative arts, objects or furniture of prestigious provenance (particularly Marie-Antoinette who was a true obsession for the collector). Lucien Double, the Baron's son, gave in this work a glimpse of his father's magnificent collections which included at least a dozen salons of various periods, all furnished in the diverse styles of the time, including an eighteenth-century salon that had no equal except the salon des Singes, attributed to Watteau, at Chantilly. These salons were reconstituted during the sale and the author gives a precise description of them. Alongside the description of paintings, objects or furniture, the gray pencil price of the adjudication, also under each of the plates, with the sale number. The sale brought in 2,600,000 Francs, as attested by a slip of paper pasted before the title page.