FRENCH SELECTIONS  

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The Archbishop of Cambrai onHow to Teach Girls

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•  Uncommon early 19th-century edition of a widely read treatise on the education of girls, written by a Roman Catholic archbishop (1651–1715) now largely remembered for his best-selling Aventures de Télémaque. In 1679, Fénelon became the director of the Nouvelles-Catholiques, a community ofHuguenot girls undergoing conversion to Catholicism, and published the present work after several years of experience there.

WorldCat reportsonly four U.S. institutional holdings of this attractive Antoine-Augustin Renouard printing. While this copy does include the half-title, the engraved portrait cited by OCLC as appearing in some copies is not present here (with the volume showing no signs of its ever having been present).

Binding:  Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in gilt roll, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; board edges with single gilt fillet, turn-ins with gilt roll resembling but not identical to cover roll. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above, showing rubbing to spine, joints, and extremities. Portrait reported in some copies not present here; pages with scattered instances of mild spotting. An elegant little testament to the enduring influence of this work, progressive for its day.  (38421)

First ENGLISH TRANSLATION — Deluxe Binding

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•  First edition in English of Flaubert's first finished literary work: a melancholy tale of erotic longing followed by ennui and decline. The novella appears here translated by Frank Jellinek, with an introduction by John Cowper Powys and both full-page and in-text illustrations by Hortense Ansorge.

This isnumbered copy 71 of 1250 for sale in England.

Binding: Special signed binding of brown morocco, covers with leather bird inlays and gilt-stamped line of falling leaves, spine with blind-stamped leather title and author labels between raised bands. The back pastedown bears a blind-stamped omega, dated 1955.

•  Binding as above, corners and joints lightly rubbed. Inside, fresh and clean. An elegant volume.  (33519)

Limited Edition — Mucha Illustrations

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•  First edition and the sole edition illustrated by Alphonse Mucha. The text is five historically inspired tales, decorated with 12 beautiful hand-colored wood-engraved Art Nouveau illustrations (some plates, some in text) by Mucha. There were 100 copies printed on Japan paper, and another 50 on China paper; the present example is one of the former, with the title-page vignette appearing in black and white rather than color.

•  Near-contemporary quarter red morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities rubbed, front cover and joint with small scuffs. Original wrappers not present here. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (33470)

French N.T. with Marlorat Notes & anILLUSTRATED CALENDAR

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•  Paired in this pocket-sized volume are an elegant 16th-century calendar and a French, Geneva N.T. The calendar — printed for use in 1566 — containstwelve attractive and well-impressed one-third page size woodcuts depicting the various chores required in each month, such as shearing sheep in June or crushing grapes in September, and it ends with French fair dates generally as well as dates for fairs in Lyon, Frankfurt, and Anvers specifically.

The French N.T. contains revisions and numerous marginal notes from Marlorat (1506–62), a French reformer and popular preacher, and was published only two years after he wasmartyred at Rouen in 1562 under charges of treason. While this N.T. lacks its title-page, its contents match those of Van Eys N.T. 118.

Binding:  Late 19th- or early 20th-century tan calf, spine gilt extra with two gilt leather labels; covers framed in gilt and triple-ruled in blind, with marbled endpapers, gilt board edges and turn-ins. All edges gilt.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, COPAC, and KVK find only one copy of the almanac and one of the New Testament, bound together. They are in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek. However Chambers lists five copies in addition to that one, including one at the National Library of Scotland that is not findable via COPAC.

Provenance:  The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Van Eys, Bibles French, pt. II, 118; Chambers, French Bibles, 340; not in Darlow & Moule.   Bound as above, rebacked, with gentle rubbing. Light general age-toning with this greater at edges, Bible title-page lacking; two early leaves darkened and one repaired, some leaves closely trimmed touching captions or with loss of a letter or two from marginal notes, two leaves with short tears and three each with a small spot. Ex-library as above: pencilling on endpapers, five-digit acquisition stamp and call number on title-page verso, booklabel at back. A compact and dare it be said “darling” book.  (36407)

Six Items Together — A French Lady's Anti-Jesuit Sammelband

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•  The short pieces in this mélange relate to the Society of Jesus in France just prior to and during their expulsion from that country in 1764. All were issued anonymously, many are scarce, and all now command the interest of various types of scholars and collectors. The first item is sometimes attributed to Charles de Neuville; the second, according to Carayon, is a “réimpression de la Tres humble remonstrance des PP. Jésuites à la France” that according to WorldCat and NUC is held by only one U.S. library, the University of Minnesota; the third is held by only two U.S. libraries; the fourth is held only in another edition of 45 pages; finally, the sixth item is reportedly held by only one U.S. library.

Provenance:  Elegant contemporary bookplate of Mademoiselle de Valanglart.

•  Contemporary mottled calf, round spine without raised bands, gilt spine extra, marbled endpapers, all edges red; some leather abraded from covers and a very little from the spine's base, lacking spine label once reading “MELANGE” (and this now blind-embossed in that compartment). Light age-toning; bookplate as above.  (36671)

EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
inLate 14th-Century France, Spain, Portugal, & England

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•  Froissart (1338?–1410?) was a poet and court historian and is best remembered for his famous late medieval chronicle of the house of Valois in France in the 14th century and British history of the same era. The work circulated in manuscript for decades and was first printed in 1499; this mid-16th-century edition is “reveu & corrigeé sus diuers exemplaires, & suyuant les bons auteurs, par Denis Sauuage de Fontenailles en Brie, historiographe du trescrestien roy Henry IIe de ce nom.”

These large and lengthy volumes present Froissart's mostly firsthand narrative of weddings, funerals, and notable events including battles from shortly before his birth to 1400. Information for the period before his birth and reaching maturity is based on Flemish writer Jean le Bel's Vrayes Chroniques. Vol. II chronicles events in Flanders down to the Peace of Tournai in 1385. Vol. III moves us from France and Flanders to address events in Spain and Portugal, while IV deals with events leading up to the Battle of Poitiers and Froissart's visit to England.

Each volume has its own title-page with the printer's device and its text is preceded by a “table des chapitres” (and errata in vols. I and II), ending with several pages of notes. The text is printed in roman with handsomehistoriated, exquisitely executed woodcut initials. The printed marginal notes are in italic. The head- and tailpieces exhibit the same high quality of cutting as the initials.

Provenance:  The Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Adams F1066; Grässe, II, 638; Brunet, II, 1405.   18th-century calf with modest gilt triple rule border on boards, rebacked and forecorners of the boards restored; new endpapers. Oval library stamp (as above) on title-page and in the margins of a few text pages only; stamping is minimal. Fore- and bottom margins with old, light dampstaining; upper margins of a few leaves with a small semicircular brown stain; otherwise, an occasional spot or smudge only. Overall, a rather good copy of a standard and still important workhandsomely printed by the royal printer.  (36777)

Spirits & Sleepwalking

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•  Humankind has always been fascinated by the mysterious, the unexplained, and the supernatural. In the 19th-century “rappings,” sommnabulism, phrenology, and mesmerism were among the “hot topics” of the day with devout believers and equally ardent skeptics. Dedicated to both believers and unbelievers, this booklet — described by Caillet as a “brochure piquant” — looks at somnambulism in addition to animal magnetism and Spiritualism in general. The tipped-in engraved frontispiece is captioned “Effet de la seconde vue. Somnambule voyant a travers les corps opaques.”

This first edition is now uncommon: WorldCat finds only one U.S. institution reporting ownership (Harvard).

Provenance:  From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, 4461.   Sewn in publisher's printed yellow paper wrappers; wrappers slightly dust-soiled with edges chipped, losses to spine paper resulting in wrappers splitting at spine with sewing holding for now. Light foxing. A very reasonable copy of an unusual, ephemeral item, here in its original wrappers with page edges untrimmed.  (40017)

Beautifully Bound & Illustrated FRENCH Edition
“Tr. by Mme. Bachellery”  

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•  Edition limited to 220, this one of 10 on papier du Japon. Illustrated with eaux-fortes by Lalauze, and each platepresent in four states.

Binding: Bound by Lortic Frères in red morocco with filigree gilt tooling on covers and in spine compartments; a gilt rose also in each spine compartment.  Blue morocco in-laid doublures, turquoise watered silk endpapers, and marbled fly-leaves; very wide turn-ins with gilt dentelles. All edges gilt over marbling.

•  A copy in lovely condition, imperceptibly rebacked with the original spine retained. Original wrappers bound in. Protected in a crimson morocco-edged slipcase.  (2933)

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Limited EditionFrench Symbolist Essay

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•  Essay from a French Symbolist poet with an introduction by Gabriel Albert Aurier (1865–92), printed on Holland paper in a limited edition of 950 copies, of which this is number 909.

The little volume also offers astriking wood-engraved frontispiece in orange and black by Jean Gabriel Daragnès (1886–1950) who additionally provided the wood-engraved headpieces, and the colophon notes the item was printed by Ducros, Lefèvre, & Colas.

•  Red and black printed cream wrappers, gently worn around edges; light age-toning with a few occasional spots, frontispiece offset onto title-page. A very nice copy.  (36392)

The Man Who Talked to Statues:  The Science of Communicating
with theSpirit World

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•  First edition: Ghost writing and other supernatural messages, as described by one of the early leading lights of Spiritualism in France. Baron Ludwig von Güldenstubbe, sometimes known as Louis de Guldenstubbé (1820–73), was a Baltic-Swedish nobleman who settled in Paris along with his sister, famed as an accomplished medium in her own right. The two were interested in the phenomenon of direct writing, in which mysterious messages appeared in locked boxes or on pieces of paper left on tombs or statues. The present work collects the messages obtained by Güldenstubbe in the course of his experiments, in addition to offering a fairly thorough overview of historical approaches to spirit communication (including discussion of the nature of the soul, and mysticism as practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, China, India, and Persia) — with15 oversized, folding plates tipped in at the back of the work, reproducing some of the handwritten messages allegedly composed by spirits.

This is the first appearance, followed by a German printing in 1869; another volume was apparently planned, but never printed. This copy is in the publisher's original wrappers, with page edges untrimmed. It should be noted that while a digitized version is reported as being held by a number of institutions, actual hard copies containing all 15 plates are now uncommon.

Provenance:  From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes, 4873.   Publisher's printed brown paper wrappers, darkened and chipped, respined with light brown paper shelfback. Pages age-toned, with occasional spots of foxing (including to plates); edges untrimmed. First signature separated but present. A fascinating item, here closely presenting its original state.  (40005)

One of the Scarcer Elzevir Works

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•  French-language translation of De bloedige belegeringe der stad Oostende in Vlaanderen, a classic account of siege of Ostend (1601–04), a protracted battle during the Eighty Years' War (i.e., the War for Dutch Independence) that eventually ousted the Dutch from Belgium.

The text is illustrated with a full page engraved portrait of Mauretius of Nassau, an engraving of his coat of arms, and14 engraved folding plates.

A curious aspect of this Elzevir production is that the firm used very inferior paper and many of the surviving copies are severely browned in sections; this copy is no exception. The anomaly is clearly visible in the copy that the Austrian National Library (i.e., Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) digitized for googlebooks.

•  Willems 99; Copinger, Elzevier Press, 2063; Berghman 129; Rahir, Elzevier, 78.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards; a large portion of the vellum gone from the rear cover, exposing the boards, and front free endpaper lacking. Evidence of ties. Several quires severely browned, others age-toned; some leaves loosened; worming in margins, only occasionally entering text. A lesser copy, essentially a near good one; still, rare and interesting.  (35264)

Holbein’s Dance of Death — HIS ALPHABET with “New” Borders

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•  Tross's careful and elegant 19th-century edition: The Dance of Death concept experienced a revival in French Romantic literature of the era and the main text here, in French and Latin, is prefaced by Anatole de Montaiglon's introduction (in French). The reproductions of Holbein's initials were done by Heinrich Loedel, and each page is given anexquisite death-themed, wood-engraved border by Léon le Maire after designs from a Book of Hours printed by Simon Vostre. The alphabet is represented (excluding J and U) by magnificent engraved historiated letters, five of which are repeated.

Binding:  Chocolate brown morocco, covers framed and panelled in blind with gilt-tooled corner fleurons and gilt strapwork central medallions; spine with blind-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped title and date and cover fleurons repeated in compartments; turn-ins with wide composite gilt rolls. All edges gilt; striking and distinctive marbled endpapers. Signed by binder L. Claessens with tiny stamp in roll on lower front turn-in.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bound as above and in lovely condition; extremely minor spots of rubbing and scraping to boards, one raised band with a short cut(?) and a sliver of leather lost. An overall wonderful copy of this beautiful reprint.  (37923)

APEARL of a Book of Its Era

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•  Scarce, andundescribed in any major database. Edited and contributed to by the prolific French author Paul Lacroix, best known as “Bibliophile Jacob,” this lovely collection of short stories, poems, and meditations by Lacroix, Balzac, Émile Délerot, Charles Nodier, et al. is illustrated with22 large steel engravings done by J.C. Armytage, W. Greatbach, J.B. Allen, J.T. Willmore, F. Joubert, and others after designs by artists including Turner, Webster, etc.

•  Contemporary quarter morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding lightly rubbed over sides and extremities. Front pastedown with small armorial bookplate. Front free endpaper and first few leaves separated. Occasional faint pencilled vocabulary annotations, in English. Scattered light spots of foxing, with most plates clean and untouched, a few showing some spotting in margins.

A QUITELuxurious & Useful Production

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•  Canvassing ancient Egypt to the Italian Renaissance and modern times, this monograph on ceramic art distinguishes classes and styles of pottery, is illustrated with200 wood-engraved figures by Hercule Catenacci and Jules Jacquemart, bears12 full-page engraved plates by the latter, and tells how to identify many works' makers, cataloguing1,000 marks and monograms. Each full-page plate is protected by a guard sheet with a brief letterpress description.

Jules Jacquemart (1837–80) was but in his mid-twenties when he began drawing from the renowned art collection of his father, Albert, an art historian. The Jacquemarts' first book on the subject was the Histoire de la porcelaine, followed shortly by this, its companion, in 1873, when Jules was “at work again on his own best work of etching.” He also made the etchings for Techener's Histoire de la bibliophilie (1860–64) and, in 1864, received an important commission from the French crown for Gemmes et joyaux de la couronne (1865).

The monograph's originalcolor-painted beaux-arts wrappers are bound in at the front and back here, including the spine in front (rubbed and faded, hinting at original splendor). The title-page is printed in red and black. An extensive index appears at the end.

Binding: Three-quarter evergreen morocco bordered with gilt fillets over bubble gum and mint marbled paper boards; spine with raised bands, gilt-framed compartments containing author, title, date, and appropriate devices in gilt; endpapers matching marbled boards and top edge gilt.

•  For J. Jacquemart, see: The Nineteenth Century, Vol. IX, pp. 681–90.   Leather lightly scuffed at extremities and sunned to a woody green on spine and upper front cover; offsetting from turn-ins onto endpapers. Mild to (occasionally) moderate foxing throughout and old water damage on a few leaves only.  (30132)

“Un Missionnaire Doit Être un Excellent Voyageur”

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•  The first volume here opens with an impassioned defense of the overall interest and significance of the Lettres édifiantes, 34 volumes of correspondence from non-European Jesuit missions reporting back to Rome, originally published from 1702 to 1776. While there was obviously much therein on the condition of the various missions and missionaries and their conversion activities, the writers also addressed social and political conditions and events, as well as occasionally writing detailed descriptions of natural history. The present two volumes, an early 19th-century abridgement, offer some of thehighlights of letters from the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas (Constantinople, Armenia, Persia, Syria, Tripoli, Jerusalem and the Holy Land, in the first volume; various parts of Canada, California, Santo Domingo, and Guyana in the second).

•  This ed. not in Sabin; see 40697 for main entry.   Contemporary paper in tree calf pattern, spines with gilt-stamped red leather title-labels; rubbed overall. All edges stained yellow. Front free endpapers each with small 19th-century library paper shelving label. Occasional small spots of staining or foxing, pages generally clean.  (40086)

Required Reading — Impeccable Printing

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•  Bodoni edition of a classic of the genre: Rochefoucauld's dry, pragmatic observations on human nature — at the time of this printing, a mandatory entry in any well-bred philosopher's library. Bodoni produced two separate editions in this same year, the present example beingone of only 255 copies printed in the quarto format, which Brooks considers equally attractive as that in folio.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with small oval blue-paper label lmbossed in gold with a monogram of “PB,” and with bookplates of Robert Wayne Stilwell and Brian Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only four U.S. libraries (Wesleyan, Boston University, Johns Hopkins, The Bridwell) reporting ownership of this quarto format edition.

•  Brooks 1105; Brunet, III, 846; De Lama, II, 199; Giani 199 (p. 77).   Contemporary quarter vellum and Bodoni orange paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-ruled bands and gilt-stamped leather title and date labels; corners and edges much rubbed, sides with light scuffing, vellum slightly darkened. Bookplates as above; front free endpaper with small oval of offsetting from monogram label. Occasional faint foxing, pages overall giving a clean, fresh impression.  (40200)

Some Aspects of SEXUALITY in 1894
(ILLUSTRATED)

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•  Laurent (1861–1904) was a Belgian medical doctor who specialized in the study of sex, sexuality, and sexual identity. In this classic work he delves into intersexuality, gynandromorphism. atypical sex development, bisexuality, and hermaphrodisim. The “illustrations” noted in our collation are actually ten full-page plates showing individuals representing the above, with the last offering two vignette images.

•  Recent boards with original wrappers bound in. Age-toning.  (40390)

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Breton Folk Literature Legacy — Music & Engraved Plates

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•  First English-language edition, in the first issue original binding: Ancient and traditional pieces from Brittany, many with sheet music provided in the appendix — “with some of the original melodiesharmonized by Mrs. Tom Taylor.”  Laura Wilson Taylor (née Barker) was a talented violinist and accomplished composer who supplied music for her husband's plays and other theatrical performances, and published a number of popular songs.

The volume is illustrated witha frontispiece and eight engraved plates done by several different hands after artists including Tissot, Millais, Tenniel, Keene and others, with the frontispiece and title-page vignettes being particularly nice steel engravings done by Charles Henry Jeens from Tissot designs.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Publisher's brick-colored textured cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped vignette of a medieval lancer framed in gilt triple fillets, spine with gilt-stamped title; slightly cocked with front hinge a bit tender, edges and extremities rubbed, spine gently darkened. Top edge gilt. Binder's ticket of Burn & Co. on back pastedown. Pages and plates clean. An outstanding example of a quintessentially Victorian-era perspective on Celtic lore.  (38052)

A Concise Overview for aVery Special Student Subset

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•  First edition of this introduction to geometry, intended foryoung men working in the royal stables who had only scant time available for the study of mathematics. In addition to a mathematician, professor, and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopédie, the author (1704–81) was a scholar of military tactics, responsible for Éléments de tactique and Traité de l'attaque des places among other items.

This now-uncommon textbook is illustrated with five folding engraved plates of diagrams. WorldCat showsjust one U.S. institution (Society of the Cincinnati) reporting a copy, and only a handful of overseas holdings.

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked inscription “de Ratzenried” and front pastedown with von Ratzenried armorial bookplate (coat of arms showing greyhounds and a moon with clouds) labelled F.C.V.R.: possibly Franz Carl Anton von und zu Ratzenried.

•  Contemporary mottled calf, board edges with gilt roll, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and compartments gilt extra; light wear overall, edges and joints moderately rubbed. All edges speckled red. Bookplate and inscription as above. Pages with occasional small pencilled marks of emphasis, otherwise clean; one plate with outer edge slightly tattered. A very nice copy, in contemporary binding, of this scarce practical compendium.  (40246)

“L’homme fossile en Europe”

•  Fifth edition, following the first of 1848, with added paleontological and archeological notes by M.E. DuPont. This study of prehistoric peoples was written by a military man and artist who specialized in maritime painting before becoming interested in natural history, astronomy, and geology; the work is illustrated with a chromolithographic frontispiece, three tinted lithographic plates, and numerous in-text wood engravings.

•  Contemporary quarter green sheep in imitation of morocco over paper-covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges slightly rubbed, spine showing very faint traces of a now-absent label. Front pastedown with private collector’s 19th-century bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Half-title with chip to outer margin; pages and plates clean and fresh.  (19332)

“The First Civilizations”

•  Sole edition: Collection of essays on prehistoric archeology, focusing in the first volume on Egypt and in the second on Chaldea, Assyria, and Phoenicia. The author was raised virtually from birth to follow in the footsteps of his archeologist father, Charles Lenormant; among his contributions to classical scholarship was his identification of the language now known as Akkadian.

•  Contemporary quarter black morocco with paper-covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; bindings clean and solid with only very minimal edge and corner wear. Front pastedowns and free endpapers each with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings). Pages slightly age-toned; a few leaves unopened. Handsome.  (19294)

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Ancient Dress.  51 Copper-Engraved Plates.

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•  First edition: Treatise on ancient dress among the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Jews, and Romans, among other peoples. The author, a Flemish artist also known as Andries Cornelis Lens, came to the study of antiquarian clothing by way of his classically inspired focus in painting. Illustrated with 51 copper-engraved plates done by Pitre Martenasie, this is an “Ouvrage estimé” according to Brunet (who seemingly mistakenly cites 57 engravings as opposed to the 51 given by von Lipperheide, described in institutional holdings, and present here).

•  Brunet, III, 980; Von Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 105. Contemporary calf, rebacked in complementary style, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; original leather acid-pitted and cracked over edges and extremities. Front pastedown with small bookseller’s ticket from Albany, NY; free endpapers with a few stray pencilled notations. Dedication page with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin.  (19415)

Linnaeus on Plants, in French — First Appearance

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•  First edition in French of Linnaeus's pioneering work of plant taxonomy, Systema vegetabilium. The translation of the text — which had in its original incarnation formed a part of the Systema natura before being revised and published separately — was done by Nicolas Jolyclerc, based on the “fifteenth edition” edited by Murray and Persoon. Jolyclerc (1746 –1817) was a clergyman who left the Church in favor of a career as a botanist and who gave lectures and published works by himself and others on the subject, becoming anecdotally famous for having offended a group of young female students (plus their mothers) by describing the reproductive organs of plants in class. The volume opens with the poem “Au Grand Linné,” written by Jolyclerc; while it closes with a notice describing a second volume (to include a table cross-referencing the systems of Tournefort and Jussieu with that of Linnaeus, among other items), no such follow-up appears to have been published.

Americana contents includemany New World plants such as yucca, New World sunflower (baltimora), potato (solanum), tomato (solanum lycopersicum), and cacao (theobroma)

Provenance: From the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Johnston, Cleveland Herbal, Botanical, and Horticultural Collections, 642.   Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in single blind rule, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and elaborate gilt-tooled foliate compartment decorations between raised bands; rubbed and scuffed with spine head chipped and otherwise spine least affected, front joint and spine with snall areas of worming. First and last pages with offsetting to margins; otherwise scattered spots of foxing only and the volume otherwise clean. A solid, in fact attractive copy.  (40660)

Latin–French Lucretius
Owned by aSuccession of Notable Collectors

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•  Although Michel de Marolle might have been the first to translate De rerum natura into French, 17th-century readers and scholars gave preference to Baron des Coutures' rendition of the classic of Epicurean thought, with his accompanying notes, commentary, and life of Lucretius; Voltaire called des Coutures's version “la meilleure qu’on ait en France.” Originally published in 1685 under the title De la nature des choses, this successful translation appears here with the original Latin verse and the French prose on facing pages, with frontispieces in each volume (engraved by D. Penninghen and Jan van den Aveelen, respectively) and title-pages in red and black — with Schweiger affirming that this is a more handsome edition than the first.

Binding: Dark green morocco, covers framed in Greek key gilt roll, spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped red leather title and volume labels, front covers with armorial “RJ” monogram (crest: a cubit arm erect vested holding three roses).

Provenance: Monograms as above and vol. I front fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscription of Irish-born poet and playwright Robert Jephson (1736–1803); fly-leaves also with pencilled inscription of American engineer, educator, and musical innovator Henry Ward Poole (1825–90, brother of influential librarian William Frederick Poole), dated 1860. Front pastedowns with bookplate of American author, bibliographer, and book collector Jacob Chester Chamberlain (1860–1905). First text page in each volume with early inked inscription reading “Miss Mupendens”; one fly-leaf of vol. II with early inked ownership inscription of William C. FitzGerald of Christ Church, Oxford. Most recently in the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Schweiger, II, 580. Re: provenance, see: First Editions of Ten American Authors (catalogue of the collection of J.C. Chamberlain, pt. II), 780; Catalogue of the Library of the Late Henry Ward Poole 1557.   Personalized armorial bindings as above, light wear overall with joints and extremities rubbed, vol. I with minor refurbishing of wear. Bookplates and inscriptions as above. Frontispiece of vol. I slightly oversized, with outer edge folded in; front. of vol. II with outer edge trimmed very closely along border, shaving lower portion of border and a tiny bit of image. Pagination skips from 72 to 93 in vol. II, with signatures and text uninterrupted. All page edges stained yellow, with stain sometimes slightly affecting page margins. Two leaves with vol. II each with short tear from outer margin, extending into text without loss. The work that long most agreeably facilitated French Lucretian reading, here in its most attractive edition and with an impressive pedigree. (40495)

Marmontel's Political-Philosophical Novel withGravelot's Illustrations

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•  First edition, early state, featuring the frontispiece and three copper-engraved plates designed by Gravelot. Quickly translated into numerous languages following its initial publication, Marmontel's controversial philosophical novel was written in great part in the hope that its retelling of the story of Gen. Flavius Beisarius of the Byzantine Empire would convince Louis XV to become, himself, the longed-for Philosopher-King. Chapter 15, however, in which Marmontel advocates freedom of opinion and religious tolerance, inspired extensive commentary by Voltaire and others and brought on condemnation by both the Sorbonne and the Archbishop of Paris — though it may ultimately have helped the Huguenot cause.

Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”

•  Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455.   Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt.  (25776)

EDIFYING STORIES for French Youths

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•  Scarce chapbook presentation of two moral tales, printed without attribution but taken from Marmontel's Contes moraux, a multivolume production originally published from 1755 through 1759. While the titles of both stories imply a focus on parenting (and both pieces emphasize the dangers of bad mothering), the major lessons here are that sons should avoid gambling, partying, and expensive mistresses — while taking care to fall in love with women who are virtuous and wealthy.

A woodcut headpiece opens each story in this printing, which is now uncommon: WorldCat findsonly one U.S. institution reporting a copy (Princeton) and just a handful of other locations, all in France.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Gumuchian 2337.   Appropriate plain lilac paper wrappers not original to the chapbook, these a little worn and chipped; old stitching holes in gutter margins and one signature separated. A clean, pleasing copy of a seldom-seen item. (40712)

Predicting an Enlightened Future: Pre-Revolutionary French Science Fiction

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•  Mercier's utopian novel, originally published in 1771 and set in the far-off future of 2440, prophesies an advanced, progressive Paris (and indeed an entire world) in which slavery has been abolished and education, medicine, religion, politics, and the justice system have all been reimagined and reformed, while women have been cured of coquetry (along with the pains of childbirth and the desire to marry for love!). The “brave” Americans are particularly cited for having advanced the causes of liberty and republicanism, withPhiladelphia being praised among their “cités les plus belles, les plus florissantes" (III, 31).

An extremely popular work (it went through 25 editions after its first appearance in 1771), the work describes the adventures of an unnamed man, who, after engaging in a heated discussion with a philosopher friend about the injustices of Paris, falls asleep and finds himself in a Paris of the future.

Though condemned by French and Spanish authorities andforbidden by the Inquisition, the work was nonetheless a roaring success in Europe, going through numerous editions in multiple languages — and serving as a groundbreaking, genre-defining example of a futuristic paradise set in a real-world location. The present example is an unidentified imprint of the greatly expanded three-volume text of 1786, followed by Mercier's allegorical L'homme de fer. Wilkie suggests that this “nouvelle édition avec figures" was printed by Changuion in Amsterdam; each of the three books of the main work opens with its own tipped-in engraved plate, making thisone of the earliest illustrated editions.

•  Wilkie, Mercier's L'An 2440, 1787. Not in Brunet, not in Graesse.   Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title-label, and gilt-tooled compartment decorations; spine and edges much rubbed, with spine extremities chipped. Front and back pastedowns with traces of red wax adhesions; endpapers with offsetting from turn-ins. Minor age-toning throughout; one page with early inked annotation. Though battered, a solid, early, nicely illustrated example of this landmark work.  (38525)

Too Much Was NOT Enough — THIS Copy with Quasi-Relics of St. Macarius

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•  Ghent honored its patron saint S. Macaire [i.e., St. Macarius] in 1767 witha splendid procession featuring 46 floats/tableaux including such exotica as elephants, crocodiles, and American Indians. Each plate has text explaining the content and emblematic and rare nature of the display. Emmanuel Petrus van Reyschot designed the rococo plates and F. Heybrouck, P. Wauters, and J.L. Wauters etched them. The work ends with a “Liste des personnes qui accompagnent la cavalcade” (pp. 75–82) and the “Detail des rejoissances publique, qui auront lieu en cette Ville depuis la 30 Mai jusqu'au 15 Juin 1767" (pp. 83–84). All in all, it was clearly a splendid ceremony and spectacular spectacle.

Bound into this copy is a printed broadside (27 x 21.5 cm, 10.75" x 8.5"; imprint: Gandavi: typis Viduae Michaelis de Goesin, e regione curiae, [1767]), by which Govaert Geeraard van Eersel (1713–78), the 16th bishop of Ghent (1772–78), certifies thatthe piece of vellum attached to the broadside, with a hand-colored and illuminated engraving of St. Macarius, actually touched the bones of the saint. The image, engraved by Alexander Goetiers (1637–86) and so signed, shows the saint in a field with the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove above his right shoulder; the vellum measures 9 x 7 cm (3.75" x 2.75"). The broadside further states thatthe included bit of cloth is a fragment of the covering of the afore-mentioned remains (“insuper adjunctum frustrum esse tegumentis, in quibus praedictae Reliquiae fuerunt involutae”).

Additionally, laid in is a 19th-century sketch-like tracing of what is described at top as a lithograph of the procession winding its way through the town. The various carriages and “floats” of the “cavalcade” are identified in ink along the edges of the page, which is large and folded, measuring 22.5 x 52 cm, 8.875" x 20.5". It is accomplished on good quality, but thin — almost tracing paper thin — laid, watermarked paper.

Correspondence with American libraries owning copies of the book confirms that the broadside and the vellum image were added post-printing and are not found in other copies.

Provenance:  Bookplate of Baron Surmont [de Volsberghe].

•  Rosenwald Collection (1977) 1734; Cicognara 1524; Ruggieri 1111; Vinet 817. Not in Landwehr because this ceremony was not for a state entry.   19th-century half vellum with marbled paper sides; vellum darkened, sides scuffed. Some age-toning; a few short tears in lower margins. Very satisfactory condition.A fantastic book in a remarkable copy. (39787)

ILLUSTRATED! — Swedish Antiquities

•  First edition comprising both parts: French translation of Montelius’s Svenska fornsaker, an atlas of Swedish antiquities from the Stone Age through the Iron Age. The weapons, pots, jewelry, and other items are beautifully depicted in wood engravings by Karl Fredrik Lindberg, with accompanying descriptive text by Montelius, a prominent archeologist whose work on the chronological dating method known as seriation is reflected in the organization of the present volume.

•  Lipperheide, Katalog der Freiherrlich von Lipperheide’schen Kostumbibliothek, 285m. Contemporary quarter morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; joints and edges rubbed, joints cracked and leather chipped at spine extremities. Front free endpaper separated but present; front pastedown and free endpaper institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages clean. Absorbing.  (19549)

Gascon Tales & Anecdotes

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•  Compilation of wit and humor from the southwest of France, a region universally acclaimed for its douceur de vivre. This is one of two editions of 1708 (the first year of the work's appearance), the other issued in Paris; the collection was also issued under the title Gasconiana.

•  Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, 915.   Contemporary speckled sheep, spine gilt extra; overall rubbed, front cover with small nick to upper edge and short tear from joint now repaired, spine leather cracked with gilt rubbed yet stillvery nice to look at. Front pastedown with printed paper label (owner's name in blackletter) affixed, front free endpaper excised. Intermittent light spotting and staining, some pages browned.  (26907)

Conspiracy!

•  First edition of this Royalist history, in which Montjoie attributes most of the responsibility for the French Revolution to the Duc d’Orléans, that “wicked prince,” who was allegedly aided by a group of Masonic conspirators.

Binding: Contemporary treed calf; spines with gilt-stamped decorative bands and compartment devices, and with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Edges gilt-rolled. All page edges stained yellow.

•  Bindings a little rubbed over joints and extremities, with a few instances of pinhole-type worming to back cover of vol. I; upper and outer edges dust-soiled. Some instances of light foxing. An attractive set.  (11404)

For SETS,  click here.

Epic French Legends — Inscribed by the Author — Printed by Firmin Didot

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•  Gothic-decorated collection of French legends, including the tales “Le Droit de Nopçage,” “Le Jugement de Dieu,” “La Cour de Jussienne,” “Le Voeu du Faisan,” and “Le Dict des Crieries et Encombrements de Paris.” Didot printed the title-page in red and black and embellished the text itself with “ornées d’initiales, vignettes, et fleurons imités des manuscrits originaux,” several of which are colored in blue, green, red, pink, silver, orgold, or combinations thereof. Two of the stories open with illustrated borders, and another one has a full-page illustration preceding the text; notes follow the stories to help readers better understand the “antique” text.

Provenance:  Author’s inked inscription “A mon bon ami, Amand Lemire [/] E. Morice” on front free endpaper. From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Printed paper over boards imitating 16th-century strap-work and panelling on covers, with gilt lettering on otherwise plain spine and four gold dots at the corners of the covers’ inner panels; rubbed with some paper chipped, front upper corner and hinge cracked, front free endpaper reattached with paste and chipped at bottom. Light to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; colors and illumination remarkably bright. A pretty little thing with plenty of charm.  (37895)

Ancient DaysFORWARD

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•  First edition of this sought-after history of Normandy. Preliminary leaves include a dedication; publication statement; a sonnet, epigrams, and an ode to the history of Normandy; “Discours de la Normandie” (35 pp.); “De l'ancienne Normandie” (35–56 pp.); and a genealogy of the Dukes of Normandy. Rear matter includes an index (22 ff.) and a list (52 pp.) of the Lords of Normandy and other French provinces who took part in the conquest of Jerusalem under Robert Courte-heuze, Duke of Normandy, and Godefroy du Buillon, Duke of Lorraine.

An early owner has mounted on the title-page an armorial plate bearing an image of the two leopards of Normandy on a shield superimposed by a crown, the whole flanked by attendants holding long branches (palms? laurels?) in one hand and the shield in the other.

Handsomely decorated with engraved initials and tailpieces.

•  Brunet 24296.   Recent deep walnut full calf old style, by Grace Bindings (signed in blind at inner area of rear cover, lower turn-in); round spine with raised bands accented in gilt and with blind-tooled devices in compartments, oxblood leather gilt-lettered title-label, blind fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in double blind fillets. Ex–Mercantile Library of Philadelphia with stamps, mostly faint, including to title-page; title-page re-margined along top and inner edge with an interior hole filled also (no words affected). Title-page with early inked ownership initials; a few other instances of early inked notations within text. Some leaves chipped, others mildly to moderately waterstained; we have chosen to show pages bearing more waterstains rather than fewer. Armorial device mounted to title-page, as noted; we cannot be sure what this covers, but it is elegant!  (21215)

Bodoni's “Institution des Enfans” — A Fine Press Polyglot Juvenile

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•  One of the very few Bodoni publications aimed at the juvenile audience: morally uplifting life advice for students, in four languages. Printed on each page is the original Latin distich by Marc Antoine Muret (1526–85, an outstanding Renaissance Latinist), followed by François de Neufchâteau's freely adapted French quatrains and then by his translations into both Italian and German verse — with the French and Italian set in increasingly large characters and the German in Bodoni's fraktur font. The work was first published in 1796, with this marking its first appearance from the legendary Bodoni press.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell, front free endpaper with bookplate of Robert Wayne Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only eight U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Providence Public, NYPL, UCLA, University of California-Irvine, HRC, Bridwell, Pierpont Morgan).

•  Brooks 805; De Lama, II, 142; Giani 135 (p. 65).   Later half green morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; minimal shelfwear to lower edges only. Front pastedown with pencilled reference annotations. A few small spots of staining; two pages with faint area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item; pages crisp and clean overall. A marvelous polyglot, of much interest both textually and typographically, in a very attractive copy. (40184)

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