First Editions

French first edition, following the English first edition of 1763.
Copy with the arms of Anne-louis-Alexandre de Montmorency, (D'or à la croix de gueules cantonnée de seize alérions d'azur ordonnés 4 et 4) lieutenant-general of the king's armies, captain of the king's guards.
Contemporary full speckled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 alérions of the Montmorency family. Arms stamped on covers. Red morocco title label. Rubbing. Spine browned. 2 corners slightly bumped. Browning to margins of half-title and title page, small worming in margins. Handsome copy.
Lady Montagu was the wife of the English ambassador to Constantinople. The principal interest of these letters lies in bearing direct witness to the customs of contemporary Turkey. The accounts contained in the correspondence are fascinating; they are undoubtedly the only feminine testimony about Turkey of that time and about the countries she crossed to reach it, notably Greece and Hungary. She addresses Turkish customs but also life in harems, which she was the first European woman to enter and visit, as well as Moorish baths. Her corset was then so tightly laced that the oriental bathers were convinced it was a sort of torture instrument in which her husband had locked her. Lady Montagu not only envied the nudity of these women, a symbol of emancipation and luxury, but was also seduced by the apparent freedom of certain aspects of their lives. She also seems to have been seduced by love and amorous poetry, and she quotes verses from the sultan to his beloved. The success of these letters was such that the author was nicknamed "the Sévigné of England." Voltaire wrote a relatively favorable review of this work in the literary gazette of 1764, praising the author's erudition and culture: "There reigns above all in Lady Montagu's work a spirit of philosophy and liberty that characterizes her nation."

First edition. Dorbon no. 4403: "rare, full of singular documents." Caillet [III, 9922] 
Contemporary full brown calf binding. Spine gilt-tooled in compartments. Brown morocco title-piece. Loss at head of spine. Corners worn and somewhat clumsily restored. A filled loss on lower cover. Scattered foxing. A waterstain at one corner of the final leaves. Several gatherings protruding. 

The rare first edition, illustrated with a title-frontispiece and 22 plates after paintings by Eustache Le Sueur and engraved by François Chauveau. Captions of the engravings in two columns, one verse in Latin, with its translation alongside. Brunet III, 1020.
Half chocolate-brown glazed shagreen binding circa 1860 with corners, signed L. Fixon at the bottom of the last leaf. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Engraved title, as well as the initials S. D. Tears with lacks to the lower board. Cut to one corner of the lower board and corner slightly bumped. Some rubbing. Fine copy, very fresh.
Le Sueur painted between 1645 and 1648 the cycle of the life of Saint Bruno, a set of 22 canvases commissioned to adorn the cloister of the Charterhouse of Paris. Le Sueur asserted his own style inherited from Poussin's classicism and his master Simon Vouet. These canvases were later purchased by Louis XVI in 1776. They are now in the Louvre. François Chauveau is one of the most illustrious French engravers of the 17th century, and one of the 4 engravers cited by Charles Perrault in his Hommes illustres, and one of the principal representatives of the etching technique. In his Voyage pittoresque de Paris, Dezallier D'Argenville thus describes the cloister of the Charterhouse: "Le petit cloître mérite une attention particulière. Le Raphaël français Eustache Le Sueur y a représenté en vingt-deux tableaux peints sur bois les principales circonstances de la vie de S. Bruno [...] Ce cloître a été gravé par François Chauveau d'une manière qui rend assez bien le caractère de Le Sueur." ["The small cloister deserves particular attention. The French Raphael Eustache Le Sueur has represented there in twenty-two paintings on wood the principal circumstances of the life of St. Bruno [...] This cloister has been engraved by François Chauveau in a manner that renders quite well the character of Le Sueur."]

Rare first edition.
Contemporary full tree calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with two gilt tools and two grotesque panels. Red morocco title labels. Black wax volume labels, heavily rubbed and faded. Head- and tailcaps and the upper and lower joints and corners very discreetly restored. A scratch on one board. A handsome, clean copy.

True first edition, including on the verso of the title page the announcement of the work The Memoirs of Montgaillard on the Conspiracy of Pichegru, which would become, by order of the newly crowned Emperor: Memoirs Concerning the Treason of Pichegru. The publisher would be forced to withdraw the announcement of these works and thus to reprint the title page of Méhée de la Touche.
Original pamphlet, in gray paper wrappers. Unlettered spine. Lack at head and upper joint open for 5 cm. Corners and edges folded. Tear with small damage to text on leaf N¹. Uncut copy, with conjugate leaves (except the first 15 pages).

First edition.
Full marbled blonde calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 4 acorn tools in compartments. One corner slightly bumped. Lacks at head of upper joint due to worming, same at foot, but over 4cm. Traces of rubbing. Good copy.
In the form of conversations, Mably details the necessary milestones for writing history and the goals it must set; The author posing the reader's interest as fundamental data for any successful historical work.

First edition, rare, illustrated with three folding plates showing the interior of a tomb discovered in 1685.
Modern full parchment binding with flaps, beautiful pastiche of a contemporary Dutch binding in perfect condition. Red morocco title label. Paper yellowed. Pp. 330 and 331 with stains and soiling. Restoration to leaves 49 and 51 with a paper strip at the center of the work.
Composed of two parts, the narrated history itself and Les Actes et preuves, The work extends from the origins of the County of Evreux until 1682. The organization and style are clear and concise, and the whole abounds with erudition, particularly regarding antiquities. One will consult with appetite the acts and proofs on this subject. A very interesting subsection has been added by the author on the office of Constable of Normandy.
This history is the work of Pierre Le Brasseur, librarian to Chancellor d'Aguesseau, native of Evreux, to whom the work bears its dedication.

First French edition translated by Arnaud de la Chapelle. Title page in red and black.

Later 19th-century full red morocco binding with straight grain (Russia leather) signed by Thouvenin at tail. Spine with raised bands decorated with compartments framed by gilt fillets. Title and date in gilt. Gilt fillets framing the boards with trefoils in the corners. Inner gilt fillet. All edges gilt. Spine slightly faded. Rubbing to headcaps, joints and corners. Upper joint narrowly split at tail for 3 cm. One tear on p. 274, another on p. 302, both in the middle of the page. Despite some defects, a handsome copy.

    
20th-century engraved bookplate of E. Crawshaw.         

First edition, rare.
Half blond sheep bindings. Smooth spines decorated in the grotesque style. Red morocco title labels and beige morocco volume labels. Library labels at foot. Two small wormholes along the lower joint of volume I. A split with loss at the lower joint of volume II. A good, decorative copy.

First collected edition.
Contemporary full blonde sprinkled sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with two tools and two compartments with grotesque designs, rouletted. Title and volume labels in red morocco. One wormhole to head of the first three volumes. Spines slightly faded. Fine copy, very fresh.

Most of the comedies given by the author quickly met with success, and even under the Revolution and the Terror, the author was not troubled, donning the uniform of commander of the national guard and providing verses for civic festivals. His works bring together 11 plays carried by a lively and alert style, precise, but with weak and loose plots. The fugitive poems are pieces often close to his comedies. The editorial project was carefully revised by the author, and we owe him some notes and prefaces and the variants of his first plays, the latter died the following year in 1806.
In fine, Les querelles des deux frères, ou la famille bretonne. Chez Duminil Lesueur. 1808. On the verso of the title page, a note from the publisher: "cet ouvrage termine le quatrième volume du théâtre complet de Collin d'Harleville ; il est placé immédiatement après les Poésies fugitives." ["this work completes the fourth volume of the complete theater of Collin d'Harleville; it is placed immediately after the Fugitive Poems."]

First edition. Half-titles and title pages in red and black.

Contemporary binding in full marbled blonde sheep. Smooth spine decorated with four compartmentalized fleurons. Red morocco title-label. Triple fillet frame on boards. Red edges. A lack to the lower joint extending onto the spine. Rubbing to headcaps, joints and corners.
Armorial copy with unidentified arms at tail, argent, a chevron gules accompanied by three stars.
Good copy.

Pastiche of a Greek novel attributed by the author to Philidor, philosopher, who supposedly wrote it during his journey to Egypt. Story of the thwarted pastoral loves of Alzidor and Charizée who were raised together, the beauty disappearing when the shepherd discovers her naked. The whole is tinged with eroticism. One would have difficulty counting, at this period, the quantity of Greco-Latin novels that were written on the model of Daphnis and Chloe or the Aethiopica, it was a literary fashion to which numerous writers succumbed for the satisfaction of the public.
Engraved bookplate of Henri Pichot, President of Veterans during the interwar period.

First edition. One title-frontispiece.
Contemporary full red morocco binding à la Du Seuil. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Gilt title. Covers decorated with a central frame of three fillets and a dotted fillet, with corner tools; second frame similar to the first with small angular tools. Lacking the two endpapers pasted down on the first and last leaves. Very handsome copy.
Antoine Godeau (1605-1672), Bishop of Grasse, poet and exegete, from the moment he became a priest (March 16, 1636) then bishop appointed by Richelieu, Godeau abandoned literature and turned to religious writings. He is the author of several paraphrases, notably on the famous psalms of David, the epistles of Saint Paul...

First edition.
Full aubergine morocco binding, late 19th century, signed by Chambrolle-Duru. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Rich decorative gilt board-edges. All edges gilt. Spine uniformly faded to dark green. A handsome copy, nevertheless.
Sermons by one who was considered the greatest preacher of his time. The sermons went through many editions and were widely read in the 19th century.

First edition, rare.
Contemporary full mottled brown calf. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling. Gilt title. Loss at the head of the upper joint. Rubbing to joints, head of spine, and corners.

First edition of this treatise, published following the four volumes whose editorial dates run from 1782 for the first volume to 1788 for the last, namely the Traité de l'aimant, which is therefore often missing from the series.

Contemporary full red morocco binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Title and volume labels in black morocco. Triple fillet frame on covers. Roulette on leading edges and board-edges. Gilt edges. Domino paper with gilt stars. Corners rubbed.

Very handsome copy, perfectly bound in a master binding, very fresh.

The Traité de l'aimant is the last work published during the author's lifetime and closes the Histoire naturelle whose edition spanned fifty years, and which enjoyed success comparable to Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. The treatise proper is followed by numerous tables of observations on the inclination of the magnetic needle (with the names of travelers and navigators), in the southern and northern hemispheres, according to different latitudes... The treatise begins with an exposition of magnetic and electric forces.

The rare French first edition, illustrated with 9 folding plates containing 22 figures. The first edition, in Italian, dates from 1765. Two manuscript leaves in fine handwriting are bound at the rear on the properties of gunpowder, with a comparative table of tests for sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal.

Later binding, ca. 1830, in full glazed navy calf. Spine with raised bands handsomely decorated with central tool and corner tools in each compartment, roulette at head and foot, geometric roulette on bands, repeated as interior border. Green calf title-label. Framing border on boards. Edges gilt. Rubbing to boards, particularly the upper board, with scratches.

Important scientific treatise in the field, whose author was one of the most eminent specialists of his time. Besides being an engineer, Papacino d'Antoni was an artillery officer and director of the royal artillery and engineering school of Turin, and composed various military treatises. In this canonical scientific treatise on the chemistry and physics of gunpowder, the theories and hypotheses advanced by the author are demonstrated through multiple experiments.

Very handsome copy, exceptionally fresh, in an unsigned master binding.

First French edition and the first translation into the vernacular, following the original Latin text published in the Elementa physiologica in eight volumes between 1757 and 1766. Copy with unidentified arms, bearing angular ermine spots on the covers. The Rohan or Rohan Chabot families affixed only the emblems or charges of their heraldry to their books, but we have been unable to identify a family behind the use of ermine spots, as these occur in too many coats of arms.

Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Spines gilt in compartments with thistle tools. Red morocco title- and volume-labels, gilt-tooled. Gilt roll at foot. Triple gilt fillet border on covers with angular ermine spots. Geometric roll on turn-ins. Speckled edges. Three corners rubbed. Traces of wear to joints and edges. One endpaper lacking in vol. I. A handsome, well-preserved copy.

First edition.
Full blonde calf binding from the late 19th century signed Bauzonnet. Smooth spine decorated with two mirrored fleurons, fillets on the headcaps. Blind-stamped title. Triple fillet frame on the boards. Rich interior border. Very handsome copy.
Father Arthuys, a Jesuit, dramatized one of the most famous and touching stories from the Bible: Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave in Egypt and became, by saving the pharaoh, master of Egypt as tax farmer. Benjamin is one of Jacob's sons, Joseph's brother by the same mother, Rachel. Before all his brothers, Joseph reveals himself. The tragedy was titled Christian although it is set before Christianity, in order to present this famous story as belonging to Christian drama.

Copy in original wrappers without cream interim covers. Manuscript annotation on first endpaper.
Some marginal tears to endpapers which serve as covers.
Presumed author: Henri de Goyon de la Plombanie. In the journal des savans of 1752, article titled: Mémoire sur la manière d'élever les vers à soye.
The first part is a series of advice for successful silkworm breeding; the second consists of observations on the management of silkworms; the last relates a method for harvesting silkworm eggs. Following, a detailed table of the work's contents.
Rare.

First edition. Title page in red and black.

Contemporary full glazed blonde calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with foliage, stamps and fillets. Red morocco title-label. Monogram B.P. at foot. Small lack at head. Joints cracked at foot for 1cm. Corners rubbed. Leaf 53 repeated, same for leaf 73.

Handsome copy.

First edition published anonymously in Lyon and not in Amsterdam as stated on the title page. The second edition published on the same date by the same publisher has different pagination and a smaller format (12mo); it should not be confused with the true first edition (64 pp. for ours versus 96 pp. for the other).

Binding in full vellum. Endpapers replaced.

This is a pamphlet in which the author attacks and ridicules the principal physicians of the period, and expounds the main features of his materialist doctrine. The book was condemned to be torn and burned by order of Parliament on July 9, 1746. Too often forgotten is that La Mettrie was himself a military physician before being forced to abandon his post and expatriate due to his publications. Through a fiction in which a traveler embarks for China to study medicine and Chinese physicians, a satire of contemporary medicine and its physicians; the work purports to be a translation from Chinese of a great medical manuscript.

All early editions of this text have now become rare.

Our copy presents in the margins, in pen, the "keys" to all the portraits of the supposed Chinese physicians composing the work.

Rare first edition, comprising 9 plates, including 3 folding plates.
Contemporary full mottled brown calf bindings. Spines with raised bands, gilt decoration. Title and volume labels in brown morocco. Blue mottled edges. A handsome copy.

First French edition, after the original German published in 1732 under the title: Psychologia empirica.

Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title-label. One lack at head, similar lacks at foot. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners slightly bumped. Title page with browning to margins.

Wolf sought to redefine philosophy as a whole based on a stable principle of knowledge founded on deduction and the model of geometry; a rationalist, he was a disciple of Leibniz from whom he borrowed many concepts. And yet for the first time in the history of philosophy, Wolf conferred an autonomy on psychology that it had never had before, distinguishing between rational psychology and empirical psychology (the translator having chosen the term experimental psychology which would be promoted to a great future in France). Furthermore Wolf perfected the question of symbolism and the relation of the body to sign and representation. The translator, faced with Wolf's incredibly prolix work and the mediocre abridgments he encountered, preferred to follow the author step by step in the construction of his ideas and theses without giving an exhaustive and literal translation that would be barely readable.

Armorial bookplate from the 18th century, unidentified.

First collected edition, bringing together Opuscules de physique animale et végétale and Expériences pour servir à l'histoire de la génération des animaux et des plantes; avec une ébauche de l'histoire des êtres organisés avant leur fécondation par Jean Sennebier. Translation by Jean Sennebier. The third volume: Expériences, etc, bears the imprint of Barthélémy Chirol in Geneva with the same date of 1787 (same imprint as for the original published in 1785). Edition illustrated with 9 folding plates at the end, 3 in the first volume and 6 in the third.

Contemporary full speckled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with several tools (wheat sheaf, stars) and Greek rolled borders. Red morocco title labels and green morocco volume labels (volume numbering at foot). Triple gilt fillet frame on boards. Extensive surface abrasions on boards. Slight defects to spines. Handsome copy, moreover perfectly fresh.

Collection of the most important works of this great biologist Spallanzani, remarkable not only for his hypotheses, but for his imagination in terms of experimental method. The opuscules contain the Expériences sur la digestion, which are not found in the original, in which Spallanzani demonstrates the importance of gastric juices in the digestive process. He will also demonstrate that the theory of spontaneous generation is false, discovers the secret of fertilization between a spermatozoid and an ovum, that of regeneration in certain animals; he will perform the first artificial insemination on a female dog. We thus owe him numerous advances in the sciences, whose effects would not be felt until much later, but above all he marks his era through his scientific rigor and demonstration protocols that reveal an inventiveness and clairvoyance that seem inexhaustible.

19th-century armorial bookplate of Dampierre