Antique Books

A set of two important texts by Du Bartas, a major poet of the French Renaissance. The quarto edition of 1583 of La Sepmaine de la Création du monde, described as "magnificent" by historian Lyndan Warner, adorned with an engraved title-page, is frequently found together with the work on Judith. These texts were originally published in 1578 and 1574 respectively. 

Contemporary gilt vellum binding with the cipher "LBH[?]", smooth spine decorated with stylised fillets and a cipher, a single fillet and four

First edition from the Imprimerie Royale, complete in nine quarto volumes with all 262 black-and-white engraved plates.

Contemporary full mottled calf, spines with raised bands decorated with guilloche tooling and gilt ornaments in the compartments, red morocco lettering-pieces and numbering-pieces, triple gilt fillet border on boards, double gilt fillet on board edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. Minor variations in the tooling on volume 3.

In t

New edition, partly original, revised, corrected and enlarged.

Bound in full red morocco, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands and compartments adorned with crowned “LL” monograms, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillets framing the covers, gilt armorial stamps of Louis XV at the centre of each board, gilt dentelle border on the turn-ins, gilt fillets along the edges, marbled edges. Slightly rubbed corners. Contemporary bindings.

Some leaves slightly yellowed, minor paper flaw on page 101 of the second volume.

Extensive and highly useful table of contents at the end of the second volume. Jean-Antoine Soulatges, lawyer at the Parliament of Toulou

A rare first edition, of which no subsequent reprint exists, complete with all his Neo-Latin poems, chiefly composed in Rome. The volume also contains two Greek poems at ff. 60 and 62, together with a poem which inspired the celebrated sonnet Happy he who like Ulysses.

Modern binding in full limp vellum, smooth spine, red edges, white pastedowns and endleaves.

Some defects within: discreet restoration to inner margin of title verso; small tear without loss at foot of ff. 2-3; dampstaining to lower margin of ff. 25-28 and 45-48; minimal marginal defect to f. 44, not affecting

The ‘Kehl edition’, the most renowned edition of Voltaire's works, illustrated and published on deluxe paper. It was printed on five different types of paper, and only the deluxe editions, such as ours on laid paper, feature engravings. These are naturally the most sought-after and rarest copies.

Binding in full painted sheep decorated with a “honeycomb” motif, smooth spine tooled with gilt fleurons, fillets and compartments, light beige calf lettering and volume pieces, gilt chain-roll border on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt roll on edges, all edges marbled, contemporary binding. Two volumes (nos. 50 and 70) with slight variations in gilt tools on the spines and

Rare and genuine posthumous first edition of the first six books of the Confessions, the remaining volumes not appearing until 1789. Several other editions were issued shortly thereafter, but the evidence provided by the commentary published in the June 1782 issue of the Journal Helvétique clearly establishes that this separately printed edition, known as the "large type" issue, is indeed the very first (F. Michaux, "L'Édition originale de la première partie des 'Confessions' de J.-J. Rousseau" in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 35th Year, No. 2 (1928), pp. 250-253).
Contemporary half calf bindings, flat spines tooled with gilt fillets and decorated

First edition.

Full red morocco binding, round spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons, slight rubbing on the caps, double frame of blind-stamped gilt fillets on the covers, with fleurons at the corners of the inner frame, edges slightly blunt, marbled paper endpapers and back covers, gilt edges and heads, very elegant 19th-century binding ‘a la Du Seuil’ signed Quinet on the first endpaper. 

Rare first edition of Chamblain de Marivaux's first theatrical success, The Surprise of Love, published four years before The Second Surprise of Love. This play, performed in the spring of 1722 before being published the foll

Celebrated edition entirely engraved both images and text, richly illustrated with 6 engraved titles, a frontispiece and an engraved half-title for volume I, together with 243 figures, 473 vignettes and tail-pieces engraved by Fessard.

The illustration of the first three volumes is the work of Monnet, and in the last three by Fessard after Bardin, Bidauld, Caresme, Desrais, Houel, Kobell, Le Clerc, Leprince, Loutherbourg, and Meyer. The text is entirely engraved by Montulay and Drouet within decorative borders.

Contempor

Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Thomas-François Dalibard at the request of the Comte de Buffon (cf Wheeler Gift 367d. Waller 11339. DSB V, pp. 129-139).

Full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments with floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls on the caps (partly rubbed), restorations to head and tail of spine as well as to the corners of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Some foxing, a dampstain to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.

The English first edition was published in London in

Rare first edition of Euler's first work devoted to astronomy (cf. Houzeau and Lancaster I, 11948. Poggendorff I, 689. La Lande 422. DSB IV, 467-484.)

Illustrated with a frontispiece (printed on f. A4) and 4 engraved plates at the end of the volume.

Some minor foxing, mostly towards the end of the volume.

Modern half vellum binding, smooth unlettered spine, comb-marbled paper boards, red edges.

This work dates from the very beginning of Euler's stay in Berlin (where he had been invited by Frederick II of Prussia), a period of intense activity across several fields of science.

The work is described as a "fundamental work on calculation of orbits" in t

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding copper-engraved frontispiece by Bénard: "Mort du Capitaine Cook à Owhy-hée, Fevrier 1779," and a folding map titled "Carte montrant la route suivie par M. Cook… dans son troisième et dernier Voyage."

See O'Reilly and Reitman, 419. See also Hill, p. 253, for the first English edition. Forbes, Hawaiian National Biography, 45.

Contemporary binding in half marbled calf with vellum-tipped corners, spine decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, red edges.

Restored loss to the title page. The half-title is lacking in our copy; the boards are modern.

"An apocr

First French edition published simultaneously with the octavo edition (more common), by the same publisher. Illustrated with a folding frontispiece, a large folding map of the Cape and 15 plates, some folding. All plates have been bound at the end of volumes I and II.

Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume labels. Double blind fillet to boards. Lacks to joints at head of volume I. Upper joint narrowly split at head and tail of tome I. In tome II upper joint rubbed. Corners restored with leather strips. At the end of the second volume, some leaves browned, otherwise scattered light foxing.

Second edition.

Bound in full roan, spine with five raised bands framed in gilt and decorated in gilt, edges framed in gilt partially faded in places, all edges speckled.
Lower corners bumped, worming visible on the first seven leaves.

A rare edition of this work, which include Dialogue de l'amour et de l'amitié, Critique de l'Opéra, La Peinture, Le Miroir ou la métamorphose d'Orante, La Chambre de justice de l'amour, une Critique de l'opéra Alceste.
Also featured is Charles Perrault's description of the now-lost Labyrinth of Versailles, a creation by the great Le Nôtre.

This remarkable labyrinth boasted thirty-nine fountains, each illustrating one o

Charming edition illustrated with a frontispiece, a framed title and 9 half-page illustrations, reproducing vignettes by Fokke after De Sève - with the final illustration for L'Adroite Princesse, newly added. 

Complete with the Épître dédicatoire by P. Darmancour [Charles Perrault] to 'La Grande Mademoiselle', Anne-Marie d'Orléans, cousin of Louis XIV.

Half-sheep binding, smooth spine ruled in gilt, and a diagonally stamped gilt title. Beige paper boards, speckled edges. Small paper defect in the margin of page 75, scattered foxing, a small brown stain affecting the illustration of Cinderella. A name written in ink in the lower margin of page 21.
 
This

Protestant edition of the Geneva Bible with various additions that characterize the composite impressions sold at Charenton, besides The Psalms of David, set to French rhyme by Clement Marot and Theodore de Beze (with title page and numerous musical staves): History of the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament, which contains the Summary of sacred chronology. This addition has its own title page placed after the general title. At the end of volume III, several texts: The form of ecclesiastical prayers; Of baptism, of the Lord's Supper, Of the articles of faith; Of the ten commandments; Of the sacraments; Confession of faith. All these additions are present to characterize Protestant

A complete set of the astronomical writings of Jean Sylvain Bailly, partly in first edition. This is the main work of the author,  first Mayor of Paris, elected during his lifetime to three French academies, a distinction previously achieved only by Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle.

The present set comprises the second edition of the Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne, the new edition of the Histoire de l'astronomie moderne, and the first edition of the Traité de l'astronomie indienne et orie

First edition of this dictionary compiled by the Reverend Magnus Swederus, who in the first part of his life was a leading figure in the Swedish book trade, with several important works of chemistry among his publications, notably Carl Wilhelm Scheele's Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer and Torbern Olof Bergman's Opuscula physica et chemica, published in 1777 and 1779 respectively. Swederus was also behind a considerable number of periodicals, as well as lending libraries.

Brown

Rare first edition of a work by the "German Beccaria," unrecorded in French libraries according to WorldCat, composed while the author held the chair of feudal law at the University of Leipzig, a position obtained at the age of thirty, three years prior.

Contemporary full brown sheep, smooth spine gilt with fleurons, light brown morocco lettering-piece, red edges. Bookplate of Count Giacomo Manzoni, former Finance Minister of the Roman Republic, concealing an ownership inscription written in bro

Duodecimo edition, published in the same year as the first edition, setting out a key episode in the Chinese Rites Controversy, a dispute still ongoing at the time of publication, pitting the Jesuits against the Franciscans and Dominicans.

Contemporary mottled brown sheep, spine with five raised bands and gilt compartments, gilt board edges, red mottled edges. Two early ownership inscriptions, the first on the upper pastedown and the second on the title page, both in brown ink.

First edition of an important work by Charles Sorel, historiographer of France and novelist, in which he surveys with severity and wit the literary production of his time, which he considered overly given to fiction.

 Complete with its eagle headpieces.

Contemporary full mottled brown calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt title, gilt roll on the board edges, red mottled e

First edition of this ambitious work recounting the history of power in France from Clovis, by a man of letters who two years later would be elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Contemporary bindings in marbled brown calf, spines with five raised bands framed by a gilt roulette, further decorated with compartments of gilt fleurons in the form of pomegranates, light brown morocco title and numbering pieces, gilt fillet on the board edges, red edges, pastedowns and endpapers of shell-pattern

First edition, decorated with provincial coats of arms, as well as elaborately engraved headpieces, initials and tailpieces. 

Contemporary mottled brown calf, spine richly gilt with fleur-de-lys tools, red morocco title and numbering pieces, gilt roll to the board edges, red mottled edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Spine headcaps lacking, wear to the hinges, boards slightly warped, gilding rubbed to the board edges, scuffing and scratching to the boards, corners and board edges rubbed. 

Occasional light foxing throughout.

Likely first edition of a theological and juridical work, unrecorded on WorldCat, complete with its woodcut title-page bearing multiple allusions to the Franciscan Order, including the cord and the arms of the Order. The lay members of the Confraternity of the Cord of Saint Francis, to whom the papal indulgences confirmed herein are addressed, were thereby enabled to associate themselves spiritually with the Franciscan Order without taking religious vows. Several preliminary pieces accompany the treatise, attractively embellished throughout with foliate, zoomorphic, and figural headpieces and initials.</

Complete first edition in its metal case with integrated magnifying glass.

Publisher's binding in red morocco, title gilt on spine and upper board, gilt advertisement ("SAVON PEARS' SOAP") on lower board, silver interior to metal case.

Some browning to head and foot of spine, old circular imprint from the magnifying glass on upper board, marginal scuffing to boards, light wear to case.

Second edition, partly original, notably augmented with several additional pieces, complete with the caricature  woodcut portrait of the widow Oudot as frontispiece, printed in green, as is the title. According to Barbier, the burlesque portrait was engraved by one of the authors, the comte de Caylus himself.

Contemporary full mottled brown calf, smooth spine richly gilt with fleurons, palms and scrollwork, brown-red morocco lettering-piece, triple gilt fillet bordering the boards with fleurons at corners, gilt

First edition of this work published by the Société du Bout-du-Banc, the celebrated literary salon presided over by Mademoiselle Jeanne-Françoise Quinault and the Comte de Caylus. This intimate circle, originally comprising eight members, would gather on Mondays at dinner to exchange ideas and to write; at the close of each meal, every distinguished guest was required to set down a few lines — whether in the coarse poissard style or in a more refined vein — on paper. It was in this context that Les Fêtes roulantes, ou les regrets des petites rues came into being, in the wake of the celebrations

First edition of a play regarded as historically significant, performed for the first time nineteen days before the execution of Louis XVI, which set all of Paris and then France ablaze to the point of interrupting the King's trial, by a constitutional monarchist playwright.

Nineteenth-century Bradel binding in half brown percaline, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleuron, red morocco lettering-piece, pebble-pattern marbled paper boards, edges lightly red-speckled.

First edition, at one time attributed to Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, on the loves of a shepherd of illustrious lineage: Mirtil, son of Venus and Adonis. Complete copy with its engraved title page by Louis Legrand and its six plates drawn by Hubert François Gravelot and engraved by Louis Legrand.

Half marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with dotted gilt fillets, five compartments richly gilt with fillets and fleurons, pebble-pattern marbled paper boards, red edges, pastedowns and e

First edition of a work by an Illuminist author, also a barrister at the Parlement, known for his licentious and libertine writings, including L'Histoire de Dom Bougre, portier des Chartreux. This work was also at one time attributed to Pierre Lambert de Saumery, who published under the pseudonym "de Mirone."

Midnight blue half morocco with corners, spine with five gilt raised bands decorated with compartments richly gilt with arabesques, fillets and small stars, marbled paper boards framed with gilt

Illustrated first edition, lacking the frontispiece portrait of Hippocrates, but complete with its five plates, fine decorative initials and large tailpieces.

Contemporary full tree calf, smooth spine richly gilt with, among other decorations, a palmette roll, tan morocco lettering piece, gilt roll on board edges. Ink ownership inscription on the front pastedown: "J. E. Petrequin \ lyon, nov. 1856," in the hand of Joseph Pierre Eléonor Pétrequin, chief surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, who received the

One of the first collected editions of these seven comic novellas, initially printed separately, by the Sieur de Préfontaine, regarded as a first-rate author by Charles Louandre: "without seeking to diminish in any way the merit of Boileau, without disputing his title as legislator of taste, one may say that Charles Sorel, Furetière, Préfontaine, [...] contributed alongside him and before him to cleansing the French Parnassus."

The first edition of one of the short stories contained in this volume, L'Assembl

First edition of the complete works of Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède and de Montesquieu, edited by François Richer under the supervision of the author's son. Volumes 1 and 2 contain the celebrated Spirit of the Laws, introduced by a headpiece depicting the 1753 Dassier medal and illustrated with two maps—a world map and one of Europe—in the second volume. This copy is enriched with a frontispiece, painted by Jacques de Sève and engraved by Claude-Antoine Littret, from the 1767 London edition, as well as 10 additional pages containing the "Additions" in volume 3.

First edition by a forgotten Ferrarese polygraph and historian, which nevertheless enjoyed considerable success upon publication and was followed by two subsequent editions in 1577 and 1599. According to Marc Adam Kolakowski, Alessandro Sardi, together with Johannes Boemus, pioneered the use of "antiquarian and ethnographic perspectives" in the study of ancient religions.

Fine historiated initials depicting various Greco-Roman deities.

New edition of the translation by Alain-René Le Sage, revised by Pons-Auguste Alletz, some forty years after its initial publication. Two frontispieces decorate each volume. As we learn from the Avertissement, this classic, which flowed from the pen of the author nicknamed the "Divine Spaniard" by his compatriots, was then, in the 1770s, unknown to a large part of the French youth.

Contemporary binding in full brown tree calf, smooth gilt spine with four compartments separated by traditional and dotted

A rare 1750 reimpression of two works first published together in 1669, brought together by the fabulist from that first date.

Contemporary full brown sheep, spine with five raised bands highlighted with a gilt fillet and decorated with five compartments tooled with dandelion-shaped gilt fleurons, red morocco lettering piece, blind-ruled fillet framing the boards, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, shell pattern marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Head and tail caps slightly split, discreet loss of leat

First edition limited to only 250 copies, which were not offered for sale but given to the author's close circle. This former minister under Louis XV composed these essays in 1736, and his son, the Marquis de Paulmy, had them published nearly fifty years later.

Contemporary half brown calf, grained paper boards, spine with five raised bands decorated with five compartments featuring double gilt fillets, red morocco lettering piece, red speckled edges.

Copy comprising two translations in first edition by M. de Marolles, Abbé de Villeloin. Charming allegorical engraved title-page depicting the authors and their works, the latter represented as two mischievous cherub-satyrs. Several headpieces, some with coats of arms, tailpieces, and decorated initials with floral and figural motifs.

Contemporary binding in full brown calf, spine with four gilt raised bands, decorated with four compartments with gilt fleurons and roulettes, double gilt fillet framing the boards

Augmented and revised edition originally published by a Belgian friar in Cologne in 1634.  It was very successful in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, all the way to Mexico (El pecador arrepentido, Mexico, 1716). One copy is even recorded in the library of poet Guillaume Apollinaire (BHVP, 8-MS-FS-19-014).

Full roan binding, spine with four raised bands, gilt tooling in compartments, red morocco title label, spine-ends, joints and corners restored.

A handsome copy of this innovative confessional manual, which "encouraged self-reflection on several hu

"Vous avez été leurs maîtres, et vous en avez mal agi ; ils sont devenus les vôtres, et ils vous pardonnent ; faites vos réflexions là-dessus." ["You have been their masters, and you have acted badly; they have become yours, and they forgive you; reflect upon this."] (Trivelin, final scene)

First edition of the French translation. First published in English in 1712 under the title A cruising voyage round the world. Illustrated with 2 engraved titles, 14 engraved plates and 7 maps including 2 large format (Paraguay and Chile - mainland Peru and Brazil and the Land of the Amazons) and a world map.
Bound in full brown sprinkled calf, spine elaborately gilt, gilt roulettes on the edges, all red speckled edges. Expertly restored (corners, upper and lower part of joints). Two small restored tears on the world map, not affecting the image.
Ex-libris in ink "Sr Remy" to the upper left margin of the title-page.
A tear to the world map, not affecting the engraving.<

Second collective first edition, with continuous pagination, containing for the first time Phèdre, the Discours prononcé à l'Académie françoise à la réception de Messieurs de Corneille et de Bergeret and the Idylle sur la paix.(Brunet, IV, 1077). Work illustrated with 12 figures including 2 frontispieces, most signed by François Chauveau; the frontispiece of the first volume engraved by Le Brun. 
Edition shared between Barbin, Denys Thierry and Pierre Trabouillet.
Full midnight blue morocco binding from the late 19th century signed at the foot of the pastedown Thibaron-Joly (Former worker of Trautz, Thibaron partnered with the gilder Joly in 1874). Spine with raised bands decorated.

First French edition, after the first edition published in 1608 in Mainz, where the author worked as a teacher. Illustrated with a title-frontispiece, allegory of the 7 deadly sins represented by monsters, Christ in medallion at the top with his feet on a seven-headed dragon.

Contemporary beige morocco, spine elaborately decorated in gilt, sides with central gilt armorial stamps, full quartered arms on the lower plate, boards elaborately framed in gilt using the same tools as the spine, with gilt cornerpieces, gilt edges, traces of laces. Upper spine restored, as well as spine-ends. Brown stain to second board, 1cm in diameter. Leaf 553, a hole to the lower margin, a few pale t

Rare first edition decorated with ornamental headpieces, letterheads and culs-de-lampe.

Posterior binding in full red morocco, Jansenist spine, gilt date at the foot, marbled endpapers, frame of gilt roll-tooling on the pastedown endpapers, all edges gilt.
A very beautiful copy of one of the most famous plays in the French repertoire. It was played for the first time on 13 December 1669 at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and received a mixed reception. At the head of this edition is a preface by the playwright responding to his critics:

“Of all the works that I have given to the public, there is none
that attracted more applause and nor mor

New Plantin press editions in portable format of these three works. Ruled throughout in red ink.

Copy with the arms of Nicolas de Villars, clerical councillor at the Parlement of Paris and treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle, later bishop of Agen.

Contemporary full soft brown morocco, a fanfare binding with the rare Duodo-type decoration: smooth spine gilt with six medallions each containing a flower, gilt foliage border, covers fully gilt with 24 medallions, some emblematic (sun, heart, acorn, bouquet, sheaf of wheat), arms stamped in the centre, edges gilt. Discre

Third edition after the original published in Bordeaux in 1593 and a second Parisian edition in 1594. The copy mentions the second edition because it is the second to be published in Bordeaux.
Extremely rare handwritten presentation signed by the author on the page of the endpaper: “Pour Monsieur de Rives en memoire de moy. A Caors ce iiij [4] may 1595. Charron.” “For Monseiur de Rives in memory of me. In Caors this iiij [4] May 1595. Charron.” It is, without doubt, about Jean III de Rieu, Lord of Rives, who belonged to the family of Antoine Hébrard de Saint-Sulpice, bishop of Cahors. Pierre Charron had been called theological by this same bishop of Cahors and became his curate

First edition of the Marcello Virgilio translation in Latin, dedicated to Leo X. The princeps edition was based on an old translation by Petrus de Abano (ca. 1250-1316), and published in 1478 in Colle di Val d'Elsa. The original text was written in Greek around 60 AD.
Title page in red and black. 45 lines per page. Colophon : "Florentiæ per hæredes Philippi Iuntæ Florentini. Anno ab incarnatione Domini.1518. Idibus Octobris. Leone decimo Christiana[m] Rempub. gerente." Superb Filippo Giunta printer's mark on verso of last leaf. Bibliographical note in French opposite the title page.
Full modern limp vellum binding, all edges faintly bluish.
A lack of a small piece of paper skillf

First edition displaying all the distinctive features of its publication: it presents no capital letters except at the beginning of paragraphs and it is the very first work to have been printed with Voltaire's spelling. Our copy is complete with its errata leaf, which is often missing.
Later bindings (19th century) in full red morocco, Jansenist spines with five raised bands, dates and places gilt at foot, boards struck at center with large gilt typographical fleurons, double gilt fillets on leading edges and headcaps, pastedowns lined with blue morocco presenting a wide gilt decorative border, monogrammed bookplates mounted on the pastedowns of each volume, following endpapers of comb

Rare edition of this bawdy tale, complete in two parts published separately. It is illustrated with four wood-engraved vignettes, borrowed from Decameron of Boccace (Venice, 1531) and ingeniously twisted to suit their context. This edition is the first text of the author and is unique in that it has not been corrected. The book will be translated in French only in 1792.
Modern binding in full red morocco, the spine in five compartments, gilt date and title, golden fillets surround the cover, the endpaper and pastedown of vellum.
Provenance: Library of Gianni de Marco with its book plate and itsseal.
No copies in an American Library, one in the British Li

Rare Collection of Three Theological Commentaries: 

-In libros Paralipomenon, sive Chronicorum Commentarius. Ludwig Lavater. Printed by Christophorus Froschoverus, Zurich, 1573. First edition, with the printer’s mark on the title-page. Preface by Ludwig Lavater dated February 1573. Numerous genealogical tables.

- Praelectiones Ioannis Calvini in librum prophetiarum Danielis. Jean Calvin. Edited by Jean Budée and Charles de Jonvilliers. Apud Bartholomaeum Vincentium, 1571. Place not indicated, but almost certainly Geneva, based on typographical evidence and the preface dated 14 September 1571. Hebrew text in bold, with translation to the le

The so-called Fermiers Généraux edition, using the editions of 1685 and 1696 for the text and adding tales by d’Autreau and de Vergier, present in the 1718 edition.

From an edition of 2,000 copies on vergé de Hollande, the present copy is one of the rare first issue copies in contemporary morocco with uncensored engravings and a fleuron error on p. 240 of vol. 1, later corrected.

New edition (third?) and first in 6 volumes. The first edition dates from 1746. Les Songes philosophiques are in first edition.
Contemporary full speckled brown calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated. Red morocco title and volume labels. Triple gilt fillet and star cornerpieces on boards. All edges red. Three head caps and three tail caps worn. A few corners very slightly bumped.
The Lettres chinoises, inaugurated by the same author as the Lettres juives have this typical Enlightenment design of comparing the customs and habits of several civilizations; the work takes up the scheme, always humorous, of the first work of this type: L'espion de la co