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Title-page: IDYLLES | DE BION | ET | DE MOSCHUS, | TRADUITES EN FRANÇAIS | Par J. B. Gail, Professeur de littéra- | ture grecque au collège de France. | Ouvrage orné de Figures dessinées par le Barbier. | DE L’IMPRIMERIE DE DIDOT JEUNE. | A PARIS, | Chez Gail, au Collège de France, place | Cambrai. | L’AN TROISIEME. || Small volume in-12mo, 14.7 x 10 cm, bound in tree calf with gilt ornamental border, flat spine with gilt lozenges in compartments, lacking upper label and half of the lower label, gilt dentelle inside, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Collation: 1st and last leaves blank, [1]-96, total 54 leaves and 9 engraved plates, incl. frontispiece. Pagination: [1-5] 6-106 [2] (notice), total 108 pages, ils. Illustrations: (1) Frontispiece bust portrait of Jean-Baptiste Gail in two states, one proof before letters signed Le Barbier del., — C. S. Gaucher inc. a. ƒ., the other in finished state lettered « J. B. Gail | Professeur de littérature grecque | au collège de France » signed Le Barbier del. — C. S. Gaucher incid. (2) Le tombeau d’Adonis in two states, the first unsigned, the second signed by Le Barbier and Gaucher in Greek Λε Βαρβιερ εγραφε — Γαυχερ εχαλχενε, with tissue guard. (3) Enlèvement d’Europe in two states, the first signed Baquoy fecit., the second Le Barbier inv. — Delignon Sculp. (4) Amour du fleuve Alphée pour la fontaine Aréthuse in two states, the first unsigned, the second signed Le Barbier inv. — Dambrun. (5) Daphnis et Naïs only in final state signed by Le Barbier and Gaucher in Greek Λε Βαρβιερ εγρφε — Γαυχερ εχαλχενε. (sic.) Catalogue raisonné: Cohen-DeRicci 151-2, attributes to 1895, in-18, Daphnis et Naïs without the proof state; Lewine 64, "very scarce, particularly that of the portrait, a fancy price". Contributors: Bion [Βίων] (fl. late 2nd century BCE, Phlossa near Smyrna) – author. Moschus [Μόσχος] (fl. mid 2nd century BCE, Syracuse) – author. Jean-Baptiste Gail (French, 1755 – 1829) – translator. Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier (French, 1738 – 1826) – artist. Charles-Étienne Gaucher (French, 1740 – 1804) – engraver. Jean-Louis Delignon (French, 1755 – 1820) – engraver. Jean Dambrun (1741 – 1808/14) – engraver. Pierre François Didot, Le Jeune (French, 1732 – 1795) – publisher. -
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. -
Vol. 1: Collation: 8vo; π4 1-98 104 111, (total 81 leaves), plus 22 plates, incl. frontispiece, each in two states, before and after lettering, (total 44 leaves of plates). Pagination: [i-v] vi-viii [1] 2-154, ils. Vol. 2: Collation: 8vo; π2 1-118 123, (total 93 leaves), plus 18 plates, each in two states, before and after lettering, (total 36 leaves of plates). Pagination: [4] [1] 2-182, ils. Binding: two volumes, 23.3 x 15.5 cm each, uniformly bound in red crushed morocco, raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, elaborate gilt dentelle inside, marbled endpapers; text printed on slightly blueish laid paper, two edges roughly trimmed, top edge gilt. Plates in two states, before lettering in black and with lettering in sepia, drawn and engraved/etched by Nicolas Ransonnette. Bookplates "Ex Libris Laurentii Aurrie" and another, lettered "D J T F", to front pastedown in both volumes. Catalogue raisonné: Lewine: 248; Cohen-deRicci: 502-3. Both Lewine and Cohen & de Ricci attribute “Aventures” to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (Spanish, 1503 – 1575, whose authorship seems quite unlikely. Contributors: Nicolas Ransonnette (French, 1745 – 1810) – artist/engraver. Pierre-Nicolas Firmin Didot (French, 1769 – 1836) – publisher/printer. Jean Antoine de Charnes (French, 1641 – 1728) – translator. George De Backer (French, fl. 1691 – 1726) – translator/editor.
