• Two volumes, 168 x 106 mm each, uniformly bound in faux mottled calf ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers. Vol. 1: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, both printed on laid paper watermarked “ARCHES A LA | MAIN”; ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: [1] 2-115 [116 blank], 3 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-I6 K4; total 60 leaves plus 16 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Vol. 2: 3 blank leaves of wove paper, 3 blank leaves of laid paper, half-title/blank, blank/frontispiece, ‘engraved’ t.p./blank, no watermark, ‘letterpress’ t.p.,/blank, pp.: 1-77 [78 blank], 2 blank leaves of laid paper, 3 blank leaves of wove paper; collated 12mo: π2 A-F6 G3; total 41 leaves plus 24 ‘engraved’ plates, incl. t.p. and frontis. Dutel (I): A-1089, p. 325: in-8 (probably by size only, no formula suggested), pagination 115 and 77 as here, 2 frontispieces, 2 engraved titles dated 1873, “et 36 belles gravures de Binet”. Cohen-DeRicci: p. 734 bottom: in-12, no pagination, no formula. "Thérèse" was offered by a French seller user-75d14f4 on the online auction platform CATAWIKI in December 2021. The seller's description of this two-volume set was: "Re-edition, the date of which I was unable to determine. (London, no name, 1782) 2 duodecimo volumes of 115 and 77 pp., very lovely marbled sheepskin pastiche bindings, gilded triple fillets, adorned spines, black title labels. This classic of 18th-century clandestine erotica was written in 1748 by an author who has remained anonymous, attributed at the time to Montigny, which led to his internment in the Bastille. It is now attributed to the Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens. Edition illustrated with 37 very unrestrained figures, engraved in intaglio after Borel, unsigned." I should have paid more attention to the first phase, about the re-edition, but I didn't. After a few bidding rounds, I won the book when the hammer price was 2,200 Euros. On the 28th of December, 2021, I paid for this little beauty $2,760. The book arrived a few days later.  The paper's quality and texture, the watermark, the absence of the platemark, and the lack of embossing on the back (text and plates) made me suspect it was a fake. The pages were absolutely flat to the touch!  I established clear evidence of a high-resolution 'xerox' copy using Celestron Micro Capture Pro micro-photography.  I wrote to the seller and the auction platform, explaining my doubts regarding its authenticity. To prove my point, I include a few micro photos of the "Thérèse" and some books printed at the end of the 18th century. I explained why I considered it a fake and requested a return/refund. After two months of email exchanges, the seller and the platform refused to pay me back. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the purchase. I still have the book. To celebrate my carelessness, I included it in my library to warn fellow book collectors about buying from an unknown dealer via certain online auction platforms. Ref.: Bamber Gascoigne. How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Ink. — Thames and Hudson, 1995.

    Thérèse philosophe, 1783.

    Late 18th century books

    Books used for comparison: [LIB-2743.2021] Restif de la Bretonne. Les parisiennes, ou XL caractères généraux pris dans les mœurs actuelles, propres à servir à l’instruction des personnes-du-sexe / 4 vol. — Neufchâtel, et Paris: Guillot, 1787. [LIB-3027.2022] [Héliodore d’Emèse]. Amours de Théagènes et Chariclée: Histoire Éthiopique / 2 vol. — Londres [i.e. Paris]: [s.n.], 1743. [LIB-3252.2023] [Nicolas Chorier.] Le Meursius françois, ou entretiens galans d’Aloysia, orné de figures. — Cythere [i.e. Paris: Cazin], 1782. Below is a Xerox copy for comparison.    
  • GALIANI, Ferdinando, Abbé. Dialogue sur le commerce des bleds. Londres, 1770. L'Abbé Roubaud, Pierre Joseph André. Récréations économiques ou lettres de l'auteur des représentations aux magistrats, a M. le chevalier Zanobi, principal interlocuteur des Dialogues sur le commerce des bleds; Amsterdam & Paris, Delalain, 1770. Béguillet, Edme. De principiis vegetationis et agreculturae et de causis triplicis culturae in Burgundia disquisitio physica. Auctore E.B.D. ex Societate Œconomica Lugdunensi; Divione, 1768.

  • Description: One volume, collated 4t0, 27.3 x 20 cm, bound in contemporary quarter black chagrin, gilt ornaments and lettering to spine (reliure à l'époque romantique), marbled end-papers; printed on wove paper (vélin fort). Title-page (red): UN | AUTRE MONDE | TRANSFORMATIONS, VISIONS, INCARNATIONS | ASCENSIONS, LOCOMOTIONS, EXPLORATIONS, PÉRÉGRINATIONS | EXCURSIONS, STATIONS || COSMOGONIES, FANTASMAGORIES, RÈVERIES, FOLATRERIES | FACÉCIES, LUBIES || MÉTAMORPHOSES, ZOOMORPHOSES | LITHOMORPHOSES, MÉTEMPSYCHOSES, APOTHÉOSES | ET AUTRES CHOSES | PAR GRANDVILLE | [device] | PARIS | H. FOURNIER, LIBRAIRE-ÉDITEUR | RUE SAINT-BENOIT, 7 | M DCCC XLIV Pagination: ff, [2] half-title in red / imprim., [2] blank / frontis. in black, [2] title page in red / blank, [1] 2-295, [1] explication and erratum, bf, illustrations. Collation: 4to, (1)-(37)4 with frontispiece, 133 woodcut vignettes, 15 full-page black woodcuts, and 36 hand-coloured plates. Catalogue raisonné: Carteret (p. 285) describes the book as 'in-8', but the collation is actually in quarto (in-4, or 4to) with series signed in Arabic numerals. Ray (French): p. 275-7. The publication is anonymous, however, Grandville reveals the author's name (that's Taxile Delord) on the vignette on p. 292 at the bottom of the plate (under ICI).  
  • Title: COSTUMES ET MODES | D’AUTREFOIS | HORACE VERNET | Incroyables | et | Merveilleuses | Paris | 1810–1818 | TEXTE PAR | ROGER–ARMAND WEIGERT | Conservateur au Cabinet des Estampes | de la Bibliothèque Nationale | ÉDITIONS ROMBALDI | PARIS || Content: 24 photomechanical reproductions of the images from Bibliothèque nationale de France, printed on vélin paper from Papeteries Aussedat by Papeteries de la Moselle printing presses and stencil-coloured by Edmond Vairel. Text printed by Imprimerie Kapp on October 20, 1955. A print run of 4,000 copies, of which this is №122. Exterior: Pink lettered dust jacket over wrappers. Pagination: loose double leaves, [4 blanks] [4 h.t. and t.p.], i-xi [xii], 24 unnumbered plates, [4 blanks].  

    Weigert, Roger-Armand (French, 1907-1986).

    Émile Jean-Horace Vernet [Horace Vernet] (French, 1789 – 1863). Gatine, Georges Jacques (French, 1773 – after 1841).  
  • Description: single volume 24.5 x 19 cm, collated 4to, bound by a previous owner in quarter red morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, with gilt lettering in compartments: "SPADDY | DÉVERGONDAGES", red marbled endpapers. Printed on wove paper with watermark “RIVES”. Title-page: SPADDY | DÉVERGONDAGES | BRUXELLES | Aux Dépens d'un Amateur | 1948 || Pagination: [4] – blank, [1, 2] – h.t. / limitation, [3, 4] – t.p. / blank, 5-151 [152] – blank, [4] – blank; uncut, illustrated with 16 hand-coloured lithographs extraneous to collation after watercolours by Féodor Rojankowski [Rojan]. Table of contents on p. 151. Limitation: 250 copies of which №№ I – XVI with original watercolour and b/w suite of plates and №№ 17-250 on Rives paper with coloured lithography; this copy is № 100 of 234 Rives paper copies. Catalogue Raisonné: J.-P. Dutel (1920–1970) № 1389 / p. 128.
  • Title-page: Manuel de l'amateur | de livres du XIXe siècle, | 1801 - 1893 | Editions originales – Ouvrages et périodiques illustrés. | Romantiques – Réimpressions critiques de textes | anciens ou classiques. Bibliothèques et collections | diverses. Publications des sociétés de bibliophiles | de Paris et des départements. Curiosités bibliographiques, | etc., etc. Préface de Maurice Tourneux. | GEORGES VICAIRE | 1894-1920 | SOMERSET HOUSE | Teaneck 1973 || Photographically reduced reprint in one volume of the original edition by A. Rouquette (Paris) in 8 volumes, 9 pages to a page. Vol. 1: xix, 990; Vol. 2: 1098; Vol. 3: 1188; Vol. 4: 1362; Vol. 5: 1324; Vol. 6: 1240; Vol. 7: 1232; Vol. 8: Index of titles – 646; 4,559 original physical pages total (two numbers for one physical page). Binding: Green cloth, glit lettering to spine, 36 x 26 cm. Contributors: Georges Vicaire (French, 1853 – 1921) Maurice Tourneux (French, 1849 – 1917)
  • Hand-coloured etching by an anonymous artist, printed in July 1815. Description by British Museum (1866,0407.935): "Blücher (left) and Napoleon (right) support a heavy pier-glass in an upright position. Its solid base rests on the back of the prostrate Napoleon, from whose mouth issues a label: 'Si je pouvais encore me sauver! . . . mais non c'est fini Nicolas est pris.' The mirror, which towers above the head of its supporters, is framed by pillars, each surmounted by a fleur-de-lis. These also decorate the heavy superstructure which supports a trophy of two oval shields with the arms of Bourbon and Navarre, surmounted by a crown..., and four white flags. On the face of the mirror is a large Bourbon crown, and a lily plant. Blücher says: "Le Diable m'emporte s'il en réchappe." Wellington responds: "Pour cette fois nous en répondons." Inscription under the plate: 'Se vend chez Genty, rue St Jacques no.14' and 'Déposé au Bureau des Estampes'. Size: 33.2 x 25.7 cm
  • Description: One volume in cream French flapped wrappers, collated 8vo, 22.5 x 14.8 cm, lettered to front (device in red), printed on wove paper, margins untrimmed, some pages uncut, illustrated with tail- and headpieces and 17 sets of plates (4 of each plate) with tissue guards, after Martin van Maele. Front wrapper (red and black): L'HISTOIRE | COMIQUE DE | FRANCION | COMPOSÉE PAR CHARLES SOREL | Réimprimée intégralement pour la | première fois d'après l'édition | originale de 1623 | ET DÉCORÉE | de 17 eaux-fortes et de 16 gravures | par MARTIN VAN MAELE | {device} | SE VEND | A Paris, chez Jean Fort | Libraire, rue de Chabrol, no 12 | M. CM. XXV. || Title-page (red and black): L'HISTOIRE | COMIQUE DE | FRANCION | En laquelle sont découvertes les plus subtiles | finesses et trompeuses inventions tant des hommes | que des femmes de toutes sortes de conditions et | d’âges. Non moins profitable pour s’en | garder, que plaisante à la lecture. | Nouvelle édition conforme à | l’édition princeps de 1623, et | ornée de 17 eaux-fortes et | de 16 compositions par | MARTIN VAN MAELE | {device} | A PARIS | Chez Jean Fort, libraire, | Rue de Chabrol, no 12 | M. CM. XXV. || Collation: π3 (blank, h.t., t.p.), 1-268 χ3 (colophon, 2 blanks), total 214 leaves plus 17 sets of plates (4 of each). Pagination: [6] i-v [vi], 1-411 [412] [4], total 428 pages, ils. Illustrations: 16 tail- and headpieces, and one full-page vignette etched after drawings by Martin van Maële; 17 gravures coloured à la poupée after van Maële’s watercolours, each accompanied with three b/w plates in a different state of the same, incl. frontispiece; unpaginated. Limitation: The run of 1,203 copies printed on October 2, 1925, by Maurice Darantiere in Dijon; 1 copy (№ 1) on Japon Impérial is unique with the original drawings and three additional suites of plates; 10 copies (2-11) on Japon Impérial with three additional suites of plates; 31 copies (12-42) on Hollande with two additional suites of plates; 61 copies (43-103) on Madagascar with one additional suite of plates; 1,100 copies (104-1203) on Enoshima. This copy is № 10 on Japon Impérial with three additional suites of plates. Catalogue raisonné: S. A. Perry (2015) № 28, p. 31. Contributors: Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny (French, c. 1602 – 1674) – author Maurice François Alfred Martin van Maële [Martin van Maële] (French, 1863 – 1926) – artist. Maurice Darantiere (French, 1882 – 1962) – printer. Jean-Marie Fort (French, 20th century) – publisher.
  • Description: Original pictorial wrappers, folio, unbound, in a double slipcase with gilt lettering to spine; pp. [4] [1-12] 13-204 [4], 53 folded leaves, 47 dry-point illustrations after Marcel Vertès. Limitation: Edition of 140 copies on Arches paper of which 20 copies (№ 1-20) enriched with one original drawing, one suite of plates incl. 5 cancels and 5 full-page prints; 105 copies (№ 21-125); 15 copies (№ I-XV) for collaborators of witch 5 enriched with an original drawing and a complete suite of plates. This is copy № 45, enriched with an A.L. signed by Claude Roger-Marx (Jewish- French, 1888 – 1977). Colophon: Printed on January 15, 1954 in Paris on a press of madame J.-G. Daragnès by Éditions Manuel Bruker. Catalogue raisonné: Vokaer № 57. Other titles: Daphnis and Chloe (en), Daphnis et Chloé (fr), Daphnis und Chloe (de), Dafnis y Cloe (es),  Gli amori pastorali di Dafni e Cloe (it). Other editions in this collection: LIB-2870.2021 and LIB-1926.2019. Contributors: Longus [Λόγγος] (Greek, 2nd century AD) – author Jacques Amyot (French, 1513 – 1593) – translator Paul Louis Courier (French, 1772 – 1825) – editor Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist/illustrator Jean-Gabriel Daragnès (French, 1886 – 1950) – printer Manuel Bruker [Mendel Brucker] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1891 – 1979) – publisher Portrait of Jacques Amyot engraved by Nicolas de Larmessin I (French, 1632 – 1694) in this collection: Isaac Bullart. Academie des sciences et des arts / 2 volumes. — Amsterdam: Elzevier [i.e. Brussels: Foppens], 1682. [LIB-2676.2021]:
  • A double slipcase ‘box set’ of five volumes, 25.2 x 19.8 x 10.7 cm, lettered to spine: ŒUVRES CHOISIES | DE | PIERRE LOUŸS |★| APHRODITE | Illustrations de | J. A. CANTE |★| LES CHANSONS | DE BILITIS | Illustrations de | LOUIS ICART |★| LA FEMME | ET LE PANTIN | Illustrations de | J. TRAYNIER |★| LES AVENTURES DU ROI PAUSOLE | Illustrations de | BEUVILLE |★| Poëmes | Illustrations de | BERTHOMMÉ SAINT-ANDRÉ |★| VÉLIN || ; all uniformly bound in French flapped wrappers with colour vignettes and lettering to front and spine, printed on wove paper (Vélin) in Paris by Imprimerie Union and hand-coloured by Établissements Bellarde. Edition limited to 20 copies on Vélin d’Arches; 60 copies on Pur Fil du Marais, 150 copies on Pur Fil Lafuma, and 1500 copies on Vélin. This set is copy № 1467 on Vélin. 1) PIERRE LOUŸS | APHRODITE | MŒURS ANTIQUES |★| ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS DE | J. A. CANTE | {vignette} | ÉDITIONS | ALBIN MICHEL | PARIS ||; pp: [i-xi] xii-xiv [xv-xviii] 19-245 [11] ; total 256 pages (128 leaves) with 5 headpieces and 8 in-text illustrations plus 8 full-page plates after J. A. Cante (French, fl. c. 1947 – 1962); partially uncut. 2) PIERRE LOUŸS | Les Chansons | de Bilitis | TRADUITES DU GREC | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS DE | LOUIS ICART | {vignette} | ÉDITIONS | ALBIN MICHEL | PARIS ||; pp: [i-x] xi-xix [xx] [2] 3-190 [6] ; total 216 pages (108 leaves) with 13 headpieces, one tailpiece plus 8 leaves of plates incl. frontispiece after Louis Icart (French, 1888 – 1950); partially uncut. 3) PIERRE LOUŸS | LA FEMME | ET LE PANTIN | Roman Espagnol | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS DE | J. TRAYNIER | {vignette} | ÉDITIONS | ALBIN MICHEL | PARIS ||; pp: [1-14] 15-144 [8] ; total 152 pages (76 leaves) with 5 headpieces, 6 in-text illustrations plus 8 leaves of plates incl. frontispiece after Jean Traynier (French, fl. c. 1942 – 1954); partially uncut. 4) PIERRE LOUŸS | Les Aventures | du | ROI PAUSOLE | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS DE | BEUVILLE | {vignette} | ÉDITIONS | ALBIN MICHEL | PARIS ||; pp: [1-12] 13-252 [4]; total 256 pages (128 leaves) with 4 section vignettes, 4 headpieces plus 12 leaves of plates after Georges Beuville (French, 1902 – 1982); partially uncut. 5) PIERRE LOUŸS | POËMES | ASTARTE • IRIS • AQUARELLES PASSIONNÉERS | HIVERNALES • LA FORÊT DES NYMPHES • STANCES | DERNIERS VERS • POËMES DIVERS | FRAGMENTS | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS DE | BERTHOMMÉ SAINT-ANDRÉ | {vignette} | ÉDITIONS | ALBIN MICHEL | PARIS ||; pp: [1-8] 9-241 [242] [6]; total 248 pages (124 leaves) with 11 headpieces plus 8 leaves of plates after Louis Berthomme Saint-André (French, 1905 – 1977); partially uncut. Author: Pierre Louÿs (French, 1870 – 1925).  
  • Softcover volume, 22.8 x 17 cm, French flapped wrapper simulating unprimed canvas with crimson lettering to front; pp.: ffl, [5/6] h.t., [7/8] t.p., 9-109 [110], [111/112] limitation/blank, ffl; plus 12 colour lithographs by Schem (Raoul Serres), incl. frontispiece; printed on wove paper. Title-page (red and black): L'ÉCOLE | DES | BICHES | OU | MŒURS DES | PETITES DAMES DE CE TEMPS | [blank] | M. CM. XXXIX. || Limitation: printed 99 copies of which this is № 27; date of printing July 10, 1939. Catalog raisonné: Dutel III № 1447. As per J.-P. Dutel (II № 231 pp 119-20), the text was published in Brussels in 1868 by Jean-Pierre Blanche. Presumed authors are Alfred Bégis, Frederick Hankey and Edmund Duponchel. [BEGIS, Alfred, with DUPONCHEL, Edmond, and HANKEY, Frederick, attributed to.] L'École des Biches ou Mœurs des petites dames de ce temps. Paris [but Brussels]: [Jean-Pierre Blanche,] 1863 [1868] sold at Christie’s for GBP 1,000 on November 18, 2014. For details, see [LIB-2812.2021] Highlights from the Erotica Library of Tony Fekete / Auction catalogue, Tuesday 18 November 2014. — London: Christie's, 2014. — Lot 36. Contributors: Alfred Bégis (French, 1829 – 1904) – author. Frederick Hankey (British, 1823 – 1882) – author. Edmund Duponchel (French, c. 1795 – 1868) – author. Jean-Pierre Blanche (Beligian, second half of the 19th century) – publisher. Schem [real name Raoul Serres] (French, 1881– 1971) – artist.
  • Hand-coloured woodcut on wove paper, 400 x 277 mm. Top: "NAPOLÉON, LOUIS, EUGÈNE, PRINCE IMPÉRIAL"; bellow 12 captioned frames:
    1. Le Prince impérial vient au monde dans le palais des Tuileries, le 16 mars 1856, au moment où la France victorieuse signe le traité de Paris.
    2. Le Prince impérial est baptisé à Notre-Dame et présenté par l'Empereur au Peuple, à l’Armée et aux Maires des villes de France.
    3. Au retour des troupes d'Italie, l'Empereur victorieux place le Prince impérial sur son cheval. Napoléon Ier, du haut de la colonne, semble bénir sa race.
    4. Le Prince impérial préside, dans le jardin des Tuileries, la fête donnée aux enfants des classes ouvrières.
    5. Le Prince impérial est nommé caporal au 1er régiment des Grenadiers de la Garde impériale.
    6. Le Prince impérial fait sa première communion dans la chapelle des Tuileries, après avoir reçu l'instruction religieuse de l'abbé Deguerry, le saint otage.
    7. Le Prince impérial, à l'exposition universelle, remet à son père. en présence du Sultan, le prix mérité par l'Empereur pour les associations ouvrières.
    8. Le Prince impérial reçoit courageusement, auprès de son père, le baptême du feu.
    9. Le Prince impérial en prières devant le lit de son père. Il récite le « notre père qui ètes aux cieux. »
    10. Le Prince impérial conduit le deuil de l'Empereur, et la nombreuse assistance des Français portage sa douleur.
    11. Le Prince impérial apprend l’art militaire et obtient de brillants succès à l'écolo de Woolwich, (Angleterre).
    12. Le Prince impérial, devant la foule des Français venus pour sa fête en Angleterre, le 15 out 1873, salue le drapeau tricolore et s'écrie : « Tout pour le peuple et par le peuple… »
    Bottom: "PELLERIN et Cie (Depose) — En vente chez L. FRIONNET, rue du Fauconnier n°3, Paris. — (Propriété réservée)". Jean Charles Pellerin (French, 1756 – 1836)  
  • Hardcover volume, 12mo, 125 x 85 mm, two parts in one, bound and gilded by Cuzin and Maillard, respectively, between 1876 and 1881, in crimson crushed morocco with raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, gilt dentelle, signed 'Cuzin' to foot of front turn-in and 'Maillard dor.' to rear. Adorned with engraved frontispiece and 12 plates by Elluin after Borel. Text printed on a slightly bluish paper. Title-page: LE | MEURSIUS FRANÇOIS, | OU | ENTRETIENS GALANS | D'ALOYSIA. | ORNÉ | DE FIGURES. | — | TOME PREMIER (SECOND) | — | ✵ | A CYTHERE | — | M. DCC. LXXXII. || Collation: 12mo, π4 (2 blanks) A-Z6 χ1,+ π2 A-S6 (4 blanks) χ1, total 254 leaves; pagination: [8] [1] 2-277 [278 blank], [4] [1] 2-210 [8 blanks], total 508 pages, plus 13 engraved plates, incl. frontispiece. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen-de Ricci 240; Eros invaincu 17; Fekete 51; Nordmann (I) 91. Contributors: Nicolas Chorier (French, 1612 – 1692) – author. Antoine Borel (French, 1743 – 1810) – artist. François-Rolland Elluin (French, 1745 – c. 1822) – engraver. Hubert-Martin Cazin (French, 1724 – 1795) – publisher. Francisque Cuzin (French, 1836 – 1890) – bookbinder. Seller’s description: Erotica.- [Chorier (Nicolas)]Le Meursius François, ou Entretiens galans d'Aloysia, 2 parts in 1, half-title to each part, engraved frontispiece and 12 plates [by Elluin after Borel], handsomely bound in crimson crushed morocco by Cuzin, spine with gilt lettering and five raised bands, gilt tooled turn-ins by Maillard, signed 'Cuzin' to foot of front turn-in and 'Maillard dor.' to rear, marbled endpapers, g.e., fractional rubbing to extremities, an excellent copy, 12mo, Cythere [but Paris], [Cazin], 1782.
  • [Jean de LA FONTAINE]. Contes et nouvelles en vers. De Monsieur de La Fontaine. Nouvelle édition enrichie de tailles-douces. À Amsterdam | Chez Henry Desbordes, MDCLXXXV [1685]. — 2 vol. in 1. Pagination: [1] - frontispiece with pasted illustr., [*1] - title p. with blank verso, *2-*5 (only recto numbered) - advertisement, [1] - preface vol. 1, [2] table, 1-236; [6] - preface vol. 2, 1-216, illustr. (in text). Etched frontispiece plate and 58 half-page etchings at the head of each chapter as well as endpiece vignettes, all by R. de Hooge (Romeyn de Hooghe, 1645 – 1708, a Dutch painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist. First illustrated edition. "Publication of the scandalous fables was forbidden in France from 1674. According to Van Eeghen, this edition was published without the knowledge of La Fontaine. ...This is the edition with ‘Le Juge de Nêle’ (instead of Mesle) in the contents of the first volume, as well as page 211 for 'Dissertation sur la Joconde'; 16 lines of text on page 211; and 19 lines of text on the first page of the preface of volume 2" [1]. Pott 8vo (15.4 x 10 cm), hardcover; owner's later tan polished half-calf, marbled boards, marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, 5 raised bands, dark brown labels with gilt lettering and gilt roll patterns on spine, tail of the spine slightly damaged. Corners bumped, spotted stains on leather. Henri Desbordes (d. ca. 1722) was a Huguenot printer who was exiled from his business in France and set up as a publisher in Amsterdam in the 17th century.
  • Front pictorial cover: [PRISON | FIN DE | SIÈCLE] – [SOUVENIRS | DE | PÉLAGIE | PAR | E. GEGOUT | ET | CH. MALATO] – [Dessinsde | Steinlen]  – [PARIS | G. CHARPENTIER & E. FASQUELLE | ÉDITEURS | Rue de Grenelle, 11 | 1891] || Title page: GEGOUT ET CH. MALATO | PRISON | FIN DE SIÈCLE | — SOUVENIRS DE PÉLAGIE — | Illustrations de Steinlen | PARIS | G. CHARPENTIER ET E. FASQUELLE | ÉDITEURS | 11, RUE DE GRENELLE, 11 | 1891 | Tous droits réservés. || Pagination: [2] – blank / imprint, [2] – h.t. / frontis., [2] – t. p. / blank, [2] – préface, [1] 2-352 [2 blanks], wrappers, illustr. by Steinlen, paginated. Collation: 12mo ; π4 1-1912 203. Binding: 19 x 12 cm, publisher’s pictorial wrappers, block broken; bookplates pasted to verso of the front wrapper: Ex Libris NesClo, Fecit: René Versel; embossed stamp Versel to h.t. and t.p. Autograph of Ernest Gegout handwritten in black ink to half-title: Très amicalement allait à mon aimable cousin Le Roy. Ernest Gegout. Gégout, Ernest (French, 1854 – 1936) Malato, Charles (French, 1857 – 1938) Steinlen, Théophile Alexandre (Swiss-French, 1859 – 1923)
  • Title page: PHROSINE | ET | MELIDORE, | POËME | EN QUATRE CHANTS. | A MESSINE, | Et se trouve A Paris, | Chez Le Jay, Libraire, au Grand Corneille, | rue S. Jacques. | M. DCC. LXXII. || Pagination : ffl, [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] t.p. / blank, [1] 2-55 [56 blank], bfl ; 4 copperplate engravings by Nicolas Ponce (French, 1746 – 1831) after Charles Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778), one before each chant. Collation: 8vo; π2 (h.t., t.p. ) A-C8 D4. Binding: 20.5 x 14 cm, full mottled calf, gilt-ruled with triple fillet, flat spine, gilt in compartments, black label with gilt lettering, printed on laid paper, all edges red. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen de Ricci p. 132; J. Lewine: p. 53. Contributors: Nicolas Ponce (French, 1746 – 1831) Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721–1777) Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) Pierre-Joseph Bernard [Gentil-Bernard] (French, 1708 – 1775).
  • Publisher’s grey pictorial wrappers with lettering in red: PARIS | Bibliothèque érotique | Gérard Nordmann | Seconde partie | Jeudy 14 et vendredi 15 décembre 2006 | CHRISTIE'S || Red spine with white lettering from top to bottom, multiple illustrations in colour, 27 x 21 cm. Pagination: [1-3] 4-305, 567 lots. The 2nd part of the auction of the library of Gérard Nordmann (Swiss, 1930 – 1992), held by Christie's in Paris on the 14th and 15th of December 2006. The 1st part took place on the 27th of April 2006, see [LIB-2828.2021].
  • Vol. 1: Title page (in red and black): CONTES | ET | NOUVELLES | DE | BOCACE | FLORENTIN. | Traduction Libre, | Accommodée au gout de ce temps, & en- | richie de FIGURES en TAILLE- | DOUCE gravées par Mr. Romain | de Hooge. | TOME PREMIER. | {device} | A AMSTERDAM, | Chez GEORGE GALLET. | — | M. DC. XCIX. || Collation: 2 binder’s blank leaves, etched frontispiece or title, t.p. in red and black, *8 **4 (starting at *3, frontis. within collation of lacking one leaf) A—Y8 Z7, no final blank; 44 in-text half-page vignettes and one tipped-in additional plate (p. 212) in novella XXV (day 3, story 6: "Ricciardo Minutolo loves the wife of Filippello Fighinolfi, and knowing her to be jealous, makes her believe that his own wife is to meet Filippello at a Turkish bathhouse on an ensuing day; whereby she is induced to go thither, where, thinking to have been with her husband, she discovers that she has tarried with Ricciardo"), showing the ending of the story (45 illustrations total) Pagination: 12 unpaginated leaves [i-xxiv], pg. starts at A1, [1] 2-366. Vol. 2: Title-page: same as in vol. 1 but all in black and TOME SECOND. Collation: A-2D8 2E4, 56 in-text half-page vignettes. Pagination: [1,2] (t.p.), 3-427 (text) [13] (table, last page blank). Edition 1st edition, 2nd printing, edition of 1699 considered by most a re-issue of the 1697 edition. Description in Auction Sale Van Gendt, 1977, no. 1108: "The first, which has exactly the same collation was published by Gallet in 1697. It seems possible that the 1699 edition is, in fact, of the same issue, and that only the first quires of both volumes, which include the title pages were replaced by new ones with the new date, to make the book look more up to date. - The edition of 1702, also published by Gallet has "seconde édition", which, we think, sustains our theory." Binding: Two volumes uniformly bound by Chambolle-Duru in red crushed morocco, ruled gilt with triple-fillet, gilt dentelle inside, raised bands, gilt in compartments, AEG, marbled endpapers; to FEP verso in vol. 1 pasted a clipping, and in both volumes – bookplate “EX LIBRIS HELGE LOEWENBERG DOMP”. Provenance: Helge Loewenberg-Domp (Jewish-German, 1915 – 2021) Catalogue raisonnè: Landwehr (1970): № 88, p. 193 [LIB-2547.2020]. Contributors: Giovanni Boccaccio (Italian, 1313 – 1375) – author. Romeyn de Hooghe (Dutch, 1645 – 1708) – artist, etcher. Chambolle-Duru; René Victor Chambolle (French, 1834 – 1898), Hippolyte Duru (French, 1803 – 1884) – binder. George Gallet (Dutch, 17th-18th century) – printer, publisher.