Les nouvelles de Marguerite, reine de Navarre

Three volumes, complete. A PRISTINE LARGE-PAPER SET OF FREUDEBERG'S MASTERPIECE, THE FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE GREAT 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH LANGUAGE ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, FAR AND AWAY THE GREATEST WORK OF ITS KIND PRODUCED IN SWITZERLAND AND ILLUSTRATED BY SWISS ARTISTS. Volume I includes the cancellans engraved title, the frontispiece by Eichler after Dunker, and 21 finely-engraved hors-texte plates after Freudeberg. Volume II includes the frontispiece and 25 plates after Freudeberg. Volume III includes the frontispiece and 27 plates after Freudeberg. THIS SET IS ABSOLUTELY COMPLETE, with the identical frontispiece in each volume (as issued) and 73 hors-texte plates after Freudeberg. Additionally, there are 72 etched vignettes and 72 elaborate tailpieces by or after Dunker. SO 220 ETCHINGS IN ALL. This is, furthermore, a LARGE-PAPER SET ON FINE DUTCH LAID PAPER ("HOLLANDE"), AN ISSUE UNKNOWN TO COHEN-DE RICCI. Cohen-De Ricci (cols. 681-2) describes numerous outstanding sets of this work owned by leading 18th and 19th-century bibliophiles, and concludes that "Le papier du troisième volume est toujours inférieur a celui des deux premiers"--which is certainly not the case with this set: the paper is excellent and consistent throughout. Cohen-De Ricci also mentions that the plates in volume III are numbered so close to the bottom of the sheets that the numbers are present only when the sheets are entirely uncut, as is the case here. 8vos. ENTIRELY UNCUT (21 x 15.5 cm, with large margins.) IN THE ORIGINAL WRAPS, WITH PAPER SPINE LABELS. Tiny traces of wear to extremities, else FINE AND BRIGHT. THIS SET IS AS IT WAS WHEN IT LEFT THE PRINTER'S OFFICE ALMOST 250 YEARS AGO, DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.