This is number 21 of the 70 numbered, with the water color being a version of the frontispiece on heavy artists' paper and signed by the artist with his initials.

•  Original wrappers with a glassine dust jacket; front wrapper and title-page with publisher's “scribble” device above imprint as seen on other titles from this press. Very good.  (35646)

This volume for connoisseurs offers two distinct parts: first, the text printed and all the illustrations present as fully colored, delicately washed in shades of pink, blue, purple, grey, white, and earth tones; and second, a set of the illustrations in proofs uncolored and without text. Most of the illustrations in both suites areinitialed by Caruchet.

Jean Emmanuel Charles Nodier (1780–1844) was a French author and librarian, appointed to the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in 1824. His literary stylemuch influenced the Romantics, including Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset. This legend, first published in La Revue de Paris (1838), is representative of his fantastical oeuvre. It was later adapted into a French opera (Béatrice, 1914) and a film (1923).

Signed Binding: Crushed half milk chocolate morocco over marbled paper boards signed “V. Champs,” gilt author, title, and date to spine; patterned marbled endpapers (different from the covers). Original gilt and hand-colored stiff cream wrappers bound in, showing Béatrix full-figure on the front, her hands extended outward beneath the gilt title.

Provenance:  An initialed ink inscription beneath the Justification du tirage states this copy was “Offert à Madame Conquet” — who must have been related toM.L. Conquet, “the great Paris publisher of works of the romantic school,” whose publications were famous for being very limited editions and for the “high artistic quality of their illustrations” (“Books and Authors,” The New York Times, 26 March 1898).

•  Carteret, V, 141; Vicaire, VI, 179.   Binding as above. One small nick on the front leather near the spine, and board extremities (paper and leather) lightly rubbed. The publisher's authentication embossed stamp below the limitation statement. Text clean, unblemished. Simply, excellent.  (30135)

And yes, Claude was related to (brother, in fact, of) Charles Perrault, the fabulist and reteller of the Cinderella story and other tales.

•  Brunet, IV, 507; Graesse, V, 207; Cicognara, I, 607.   Contemporary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations, board edges with gilt roll; joints and extremities carefully and unobtrusively repaired and refurbished, edge gilt rubbed. Pages slightly age-toned, with scattered spots; last few leaves with margins a bit darkened. Small area of pinhole worming to outer margins, not touching text (three plates each with tiny portion of one line touched); some instances nicely refurbished with long-fiber tissue. A clean, wide-margined, attractive copy of an attractive book.  (33221)

The forematter includes a history of the text, a bibliography, a study of medieval customs and the characteristics of the protagonists and antagonists, and an introduction to the versification.

Binding:  Contemporary dark brown morocco, covers framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-tooled corner fleurons, spine gilt-lettered and with gilt-beaded raised bands and compartments stamped similarly to covers using same tools; board edges with gilt fillet, free endpapers in maroon silk. Doublures of brown morocco matching covers and stamped more ornately, in foliate and floral designs. Top edges gilt, page edges otherwise untrimmed; silk place marker. Front pastedown (doublure) signed, gilt-stamped, “The Harcourt Bindery.”

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

•  Bound as above, spine gently and evenly sunned to olive and spine edge of front cover slightly so, extremities lightly rubbed. Some gatherings in introduction and in notes unopened. Minor foxing throughout, pages otherwise clean. A great example of the binders' style/philosophy rewarding those who care actually to open their subtly-finely bound volumes; “but look, here's more!”  (37751)

WorldCat locatesonly three U.S. institutions reporting holdings of this 1767 printing, and just a handful of the 1766.

•  Contemporary mottled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped title and pomegranate decorations in compartments; joints and extremities rubbed, with back joint starting from foot. All edges stained red. Pages with a very few scattered small spots or smudges, overall clean.  (40294)

Provenance:  Title-page with early inked ownership inscription of a member of the von und zu Ratzenried family.

•  Barbier, IV, 1022 (for the 1701 ed.).   Contemporary sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-framed compartments; binding moderately worn and scuffed, front cover with small area of worming. All edges stained red. Two pieces of dried plant matter laid in. Unobtrusive pencilled marks of emphasis in margins, pages otherwise clean.  (40247)

•  Publisher's cream paper wrappers; darkened, back wrapper with light spots, spine creased with chip at head. Pages clean.  (35687)

•  Brunet, IV, 1375.   Contemporary vellum, later recased using green silk bands with new headbands; vellum slightly sprung, back cover with significant area of discoloration (from glue inside?), binding showing moderate wear overall but sturdy and serviceable. All edges stained blue. Bookplate as above. Four final leaves lacking, see above. Pages clean; last few leaves with waterstaining at inner portions, final leaf adhering to free endpaper. If you want a neat, compact yet compendious, early 17th-century distillation of “Ronsard” in one volume — here it is!  (39486)

•  Brunet, IV, 1421. Contemporary black half morocco over blue pebbled cloth, spine beautifully gilt extra, leather edges ruled in gilt; volume clean and virtually unworn. Front pastedown with private collector’s bookplate and with institutional rubber-stamp (no other markings); some soiling and offsetting to front pastedown and free endpaper. Many leaves lightly to moderately foxed, a few more heavily — the paper here was not as good as it might have been. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, touching page number but not text. An attractive production. (19301)

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only five U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Martin & Walter 30351.   Remnants of original simple sewing present; spine chipped and splitting. Title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner and pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Edges untrimmed and slightly ragged; title-page with lower outer corner creased. Minor spots of faint foxing mostly confined to margins, pages otherwise clean.  (30838)

Provenance:  Title-page with signed inked inscription noting presentation by the author to a Monsieur Robieux as a mark “d'estime, de considération, et d'amitié.” Later from the residue of the stock of the F. Thomas Heller bookselling firm (est. ca. 1928).

•  Stitched in contemporary paper wrappers, faded to rose-pink and worn. Two spots of pinhole worming throughout, touching letters without affecting sense. A solid and very readable copy of this uncommon item.  (40214)

Provenance:  No bookplates or inscriptions, but spine with initials “G.O.B.” tooled at base.

•  20th-century cordovan-color sheep, covers framed in single gilt fillet with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped fleurons in compartments; spine sunned/lightened with darker streaks and patches evident, one spine compartment with small scuff, joints with excellent repairs and corners likewise well refurbished. Text with only an occasional age-stain or instance of foxing; plates remarkably unblemished. Blue silk placemarker. Overall indeed aVERY NICE COPY.   (33233)

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only seven U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Early blue patterned paste-paper wrappers, front wrapper lacking. Title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled initials in upper outer corner. Page edges untrimmed. Light staining along spine.  (31191)

The work was limited to 100 copies, all printed on Japan vellum. It has an engraved vignette on the black and red printed title, small illustrations or vignettes on 50 text pages, 11 vignette borders or headpieces (three of them in color, 10 of them in anextra state), and 10 tipped-in color plates. The illustrations are by Henri Gervex, J.A. Gonzalès, L. Kratké, Albert Lynch, Adrien Moreau, and Félicien Rops.

Binding:  Full red crushed morocco with five raised bands. Covers with a triple-rule gilt border; spine gilt extra with gilt beading on bands. Triple gilt fillet on board edges. Wide turn-ins richly tooled in gilt and with cream and blue leather inlays that are also gilt-tooled. Blue silk pastedowns and free endpapers. Marbled paper fly-leaves. All edges gilt. Binding signed “David.”

Provenance:  Red leather bookplate of Cortlandt Field Bishop, the famed collector of the early 20th century and, at one time, owner of the TWO most important auction galleries in NY/USA.

Original full-color wrappers bound in.

•  Vicaire, VII, 924.   Uncut copy. Bound as above with original wrappers bound in. Light refurbishment of front joint (outside). A fabulous copy.   (26675)

Scarce: OCLC, RLIN, and NUC-Pre1956 locate only six U.S. holdings.

•  Brunet, V, 1118. Contemporary limp paste paper–covered wrappers, spine with hand-inked label; paper chipped at edges and front joint open; spine label darkened and peeling. Front pastedown with bookseller’s ticket and institutional bookplate; front free endpaper and title-page with institutional stamp; front free endpaper with ownership inscriptions dated 1829. Pages untrimmed.  (19120)

The work is here illustrated witha copper-engraved frontispiece and four plates, generally bucolic, done by Joseph de Longueil after Francesco Giuseppe Casanova and Charles Eisen. The text is additionally decorated with pictorial headpieces and fruit and floral tailpieces.

•  Brunet, V, 1303; Cohen & de Ricci 1022; Graesse, VII, 359; Schweiger, II, 1221/22.   Contemporary mottled calf framed in gilt triple fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped floral compartment decorations; joints and extremities rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, sides with expectable moderate acid-pitting. All edges gilt. Front hinge (inside) tender; a few scattered light spots, pages overall clean. An early, attractive edition of an excellent translation, withcrisp, lovely, well-impressed plates.  (30949)

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with affixed slip reading “Louis Duval Archiviste du département de l'Orne.” Duval (1840–1917) was a prominent librarian and archivist, and co-founder of the still-active Société historique et archéologique de l'Orne.

•  Not in Brunet, not in Graesse.   Contemporary mottled sheep, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed and scuffed overall (but gilt sill pleasing), with spine extremities chipped. All edges stained red. Ex-library (properly deaccessioned): Front pastedown with institutional label, gutter of first text page with pencilled gift annotation, back free endpaper with affixed bar code (lined through); front free endpaper with slip as above. One leaf with minor paper flaw to outer margin; a handful of scattered small spots of foxing, pages otherwise nearly pristine.  (38444)

This is numbered copy 538 of 2000 printed — this volume, designed by Stephen Harvard, being the first ever set by the Stinehour Press in the then-new Galliard typeface, created by Matthew Carter after the work of the 16th-century punchcutter Robert Granjon; Carter also designed the endpaper ornaments.

Bound in green linen imported from Holland, spine with gilt-stamped title and front cover with gilt-stamped author's name, the volume issigned by Harvard at the colophon. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 513.   Binding as above, in original dust wrapper and matching slipcase; back upper edge of wrapper torn, slipcase and volume clean and crisp. A very nice copy.  (32031)

In the early decades of the 20th century, Tice was a sensation because of her provocative art and as the embodiment of bohemian Greenwich Village — gaining, indeed, the sobriquet “The Queen of Greenwich Village.”

Binding:  Publisher's black goat, round spine with raised bands lettered in gilt and with a gilt-stamped female nude figure in center area of spine; front cover with two gilt-stamped reclining female nude figures reminiscent of those on big-rig mud guards! Elegant gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt and other edges deckle. Housed in a brown paper–covered open-back case.

•  Case rubbed but sound; binding as above with spine a little pulled, corners a little bumped, and front joint (outside) a little abraded. First leaves separated and tipped in; possibly, cancels? All illustrations eye-popping in several senses; all tissue guards present.  (33447)