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LES AMOURS DU CHEVALIER DE FAUBLAS.
(Paris: Chez l'auteur, an VI [1798]). 212 x 130 mm. (8 3/8 x 5 1/8"). A couple of leaves in quire A of volume I bound out of order, but complete. Four volumes. Third Edition.
LOVELY RED STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO, GILT, BY BOZERIAN (stamp-signed in gilt at foot of spine of volume I), covers with frame of gilt rules, guilloche roll (Culot roll #12) and bead-and-star roll (Culot roll #9) enclosing a grapevine roll (Culot roll #52), sunburst (Culot fer #15) cornerpieces, raised bands, spine compartments with elongated central leaf surrounded by ivy leaves on a pointillé ground, gilt lettering, turn-ins with Greek key roll (Culot roll #20), marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With 27 ANIMATED ENGRAVED PLATES after Marillier, Monsiau, Monnet, Demarne, Dutertre, and Marguerite Gérard; volume I enriched with an unsigned portrait frontispiece, proof etchings of two plates, and an additional engraving in the style of Boilly. Front pastedown of volume I with ex-libris of Henri Beraldi, Louis Giraud-Badin, John Delaware Lewis, and "DC" (Dominique Courvoisier); front flyleaf of volume III with ex-libris of Beraldi. Cohen-de Ricci 660; Ray, "French" 83. For the binding: Culot, "Jean-Claude Bozerian," plates I, II, VI, and VII. ◆A breath of rubbing to extremities, occasional minor foxing, mostly marginal, but A VERY PRETTY SET IN FINE CONDITION, internally clean and fresh with sharp impressions of the engravings, in lustrous, well-preserved bindings.
Licentious, sensational, and (not surprisingly) an immediate success, this trio of novels chronicling the sexual escapades of a young libertine is offered here in the lavishly and elegantly decorated morocco of the premier Parisian binder of the period. Originally printed in 1787-90, "Les Amours" is comprised of three separate parts: "Une Année de la Vie du Chevalier de Faublas," "Six Semaines de la Vie du Chevalier de Faublas," and "La Fin des Amours du Chevalier de Faublas." Our edition is enhanced by sensuous illustrations that still manage to leave much to the imagination. The series follows our young protagonist from the time he is a teenager, relating numerous seductions, affairs with women of all social classes, and, perhaps most intriguing, his penchant for cross-dressing (including, at one point, dressing as a nun).
Ray singles out this work among illustrated books of the post-Revolutionary period, saying that "apart from 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' of 1796, this book possesses the liveliest plates of any French novel of the period." He goes on to note that despite a sharp increase in pornographic material following the French Revolution, "the artists chose . . . to concentrate on the novel's abundant episodes of action and dramatic confrontation" rather than seizing on opportunities for "suggestive designs." Though never overtly erotic, many of the illustrations here portray a wonderful sense of intimacy--a quality perhaps best felt in the engravings designed by Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), a highly successful student of renowned Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and a leading French genre painter.
Our author, the writer and politician Jean-Baptiste Louvet (1760-1797), was a member of the Jacobin Club from the early days of the French Revolution, eventually siding with the ill-fated Girondins--a group of republican thinkers who helped bring an end to the monarchy, but who were eventually undermined and persecuted during the Reign of Terror. Louvet escaped Paris in 1793, becoming one of the few condemned Girondins to elude the guillotine.
The sumptuous bindings are typical of work from the Bozerian atelier, notable for both its technical precision and aesthetic feeling. The volumes are wonderfully refined in the way they combine restraint and opulence, being at once animated, graceful, and polished. Our bindings are the work of Jean-Claude Bozerian (1762-1840), the elder of the Bozerian brothers (François is referred to as "le jeune"), who was active in Paris from 1795 to 1810. He began his career in Lyon as an apprentice bookseller, printer, and bookbinder, eventually deciding to focus on the latter craft. Marriage to the widow of binder Pierre Boulier allowed him to establish a binding workshop in Paris, where he was joined by his brother. His bindings were soon much in demand by French bibliophiles, who appreciated their superior materials, design, and execution. His work often enhances publications from the great house of Didot, his neighbor on the Quai des Augustins and a printer he much admired for his typography, book designs, and high-quality papers.
Our set is also distinguished for its provenance. Former owner Henri Beraldi (1849-1931) was perhaps the most distinguished and knowledgeable writer on French bindings of the 19th century. His collection of French illustrated books and French bindings was considered to be among the very best in the world. John Delaware Lewis (1828-84) was an important bibliophile whose collection was disposed of in two sales, during June of 1866 and May of 1868, for an aggregate hammer total of £3,257. (ST17594)
Price: $5,500.00