Description

First Didot edition of Bernard's works. 207 pp. AN EXCELLENT COPY OF AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE AND BEAUTIFUL BOOK, a collaboration between the greatest printer and the greatest illustrator of the time. A LARGE-PAPER COPY, magnificently printed by Didot on extremely fine wove paper produced by Mme De la Garde, the first woman to produce wove paper (at the time, wove paper was also being produced in France by Etienne Montgolfier and by Mathieu Johannot, whose paper was far more common.) It is illustrated with SEVEN STUNNING ENGRAVINGS, BEFORE LETTERS, after EISEN and MARTINI, engraved by Duval, Helman, Letellier, and Palas. Large 8vo. Excellent margins. Beautifully bound in contemporary tree calf, spine gilt in six compartments with morocco lettering-piece, triple gilt fillets on covers, inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Binding solid, but spine badly worn and a little wear at extremities. INTERNALLY FINE AND BRIGHT, WITH NO DEFECTS. In this book we find the finest paper, the finest printing, and the finest illustration imaginable. Cohen-De Ricci, col. 133, stating incorrectly that the engravings had appeared in the 1772-1775 edition. These plates had in fact never before been printed (and were never printed again), and the impressions are extremely sharp.