Description: Two volumes in one, collated 4to, 32.5 x 25.3 cm, bound in 19th-century long-grain green shagreen, flapped portfolio with a bronze lock clasp, gilt centrepiece fleuron, gilt- and blind-tooled boards and spine, spine with false raised bands, gilt-lettered "ESSAI | SUR LA MORALE"; text printed on bluish laid paper, blue marbled pastedowns; h.t. and t.p. in both volumes present. Restoration and conservation by Zukor art conservation in September 2022.
Title-page: LA PUCELLE | D'ORLÉANS, | POËME EN VINGT-UN CHANTS. | Par VOLTAIRE | Édition ornée de Figures gravées par les meilleurs | Artistes de Paris. | — | TOME PREMIER (TOME SECOND). | — | A PARIS, | DE L’IMPRIMERIE DE DIDOT LE JEUNE. | L’AN TROISIÈME. ||
Imprint: A PARIS, | Chez les Frères Jacquenod, rue de Condé, no. 15. | A LYON, chez les mêmes. ||
Collation: Vol. 1: A-Z4, 2A-2H4 2I2; total 126 leaves; Vol. 2: A-Z4, 2A4 2B2, 2C-D4, 2E3 2F-2N4; total 141 leaves; first and last blank, plus 21 plates extraneous to collation, 8 in the 1st volume (incl. frontispiece) and 13 in the 2nd.
Pagination: Vol. 1: [1-5] 6-251 [252], total 252 pages, ils; Note: leave 2A1 has a loss of 1/6 of the top, leave 2A2 torn out completely; Vol. 2: [1-5] 6-212, 2[211] 2212 [213] 214-279 [280], duplication of numbers 211 and 212 => total 282 pages, ils. The total number of pages in the volume is 534; one page torn out (187/8 in Vol. 1)
Catalogue raisonné: Nordmann (2): № 562, p. 278; Cohen-deRicci: 1034.
According to Nordmann (Christie’s), it was an edition illustrated with 21 plates after Lebarbier, Marillier, Monnet and Monsiau produced by various engravers; in the 1840s those plates were replaced with 24 lithographs by Achille Devéria, who signed them “LONDON”. In Nordmann’s copy, there is also a set of hand-coloured lithographs. There are only 21 plates in our copy, lacking three as per the source.
Contributors :
François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (French, 1694 – 1778) – author.
Achille Devéria (French, 1800 – 1857) – artist.
Pierre-Nicolas-Firmin Didot [Didot le Jeune] (French, 1769 – 1836) – publisher.
Additional Information
| Collection | Illustrated books , Library |
|---|---|
| Type / Purpose | Book |
| Period | 18 AD , Late 18th century |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Subject | Erotica , French poetry , History , Humour , Joan of Arc [Jeanne d'Arc] (French, c. 1412 – 1431) , Lithography , Poetry , Saint , Sex , Sexual behavior and attitudes , Sexual life |
| Media/Technique | Laid paper , Lithography , Paper |
| Binding | Hardcover , Portfolio , Shagreen |
| Size | 4to |
| Edition | 1st edition, thus |
| Creation / Publishing year | 1795 |
| Catalogue raisonne | Cohen, de Ricci (1912) , Nordmann (Christie's) |
| Acquisition year | 2022 |
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![[Voltaire]. La Henriade, nouvelle édition / 2 Vol. — Paris: [Barbou, pour] la veuve Duchesne [et al.], [1769-]1770.](/media/thumbs/lib-2581-1.2020-1-4.jpg?v=400)
