The Abbey Copy, in Fine Bedford Morocco, Issued at Four Times the Cost of the Ordinary Edition

OEUVRES DE GRESSET. [with] LE PARRAIN MAGNIFIQUE.

(FRENCH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS). (BINDINGS - BEDFORD). GRESSET, JEAN-BAPTISTE-LOUIS.

(Paris: [Printed by P. Didot l'aîné for] Ant. Aug. Renouard, 1811). 200 x 125 mm. (7 7/8 x 5"). Two volumes.

HANDSOME BLUE MOROCCO BY BEDFORD (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), French fillet borders, raised bands, compartments gilt with central pomegranate tool surrounded by floral tools and sprays, gilt lettering, lacy gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt. With frontispiece portrait in volume I and eight plates before letters after Moreau le Jeune. Front pastedowns with the bookplate of John Roland Abbey. Cohen-de Ricci 463; Vicaire III, 1131. Covers with just a couple negligible imperfections, plates a little foxed, a handful of trivial spots or smudges elsewhere, otherwise quite a fine and handsome copy--clean, fresh, and bright internally, in lustrous bindings--exactly the kind of books you'd expect J. R. Abbey to own.

Produced by a bibliophile for bibliophiles, this is, in Brunet's opinion, the best and most complete edition of the works of Gresset, and our copy is offered with fine provenance and in elegant bindings. Jesuit poet Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709-77) is best known for the first work here, the mock-heroic poem "Ver-Vert," which tells the story of a talented parrot, the conventual pet who has learned to repeat prayers and other pious phrases. Its owners take the parrot to a nearby convent to show off the bird's prowess, but during the journey, the parrot picks up startling new vocabulary and arrives cursing and swearing, much to the consternation of the nuns who brought it. The accompanying illustrations by Moreau le jeune illustrate with considerable charm the bird's fall from grace. A book collector turned publisher, bookseller, and bibliographer, Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853) was known for his collaborations with Moreau le jeune and other talented illustrators, as well as for issuing his books in various luxurious states. According to Vicaire, the present work was offered with or without engravings, on "papier vélin satiné" with engravings, or, as here, on that smooth, satiny paper with the plates before letters--at four times the price of the basic edition. Jean-Michel Moreau, known as Moreau le Jeune (1741-1814), provided illustrations for Diderot's encyclopedia and engraved works for François Boucher, in addition to illustrating the works of Rousseau and Voltaire. According to the Getty Museum, "publishers sought him out for his powers of observation and ability to capture nuances of gesture, pose, and light." Ray says that the best work by Moreau "showed him to be the equal of the established rococo masters Boucher, Eisen, and Gravelot," and that in his heyday, "he carried all before him." Our set was bound by Francis Bedford (1799-1883), who managed the firm of Charles Lewis for the latter's widow for five years and then was in a partnership for 10 years with John Clarke before establishing his own bindery in 1851. He shortly became recognized as the leading binder in fashionable West-End London, and his firm enjoyed prosperity not only until his death, but for a decade afterwards, under the ownership of Joseph Shepherd. Bedford bindings are almost always elegantly traditional in their design, as here, and they are consistently so well executed that their appeal to a wide audience has not diminished with the passage of time. Our copy was previously owned by John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), the most ambitious and successful English book collector of his time, whose library contained one of the finest collections of illustrated books and of fine and historic bindings ever assembled. (ST20146)

Price: $1,900.00