1776 · [Paris
by Corneille, Pierre, et al.
[Paris, 1776. 10 volumes, 8vo, 34 finely engraved plates after Gravelot, the frontispiece to vol. I signed "Elisabeth Thiebaut sculp." Half-titles in all but volume I, half-title defective in vol. 7 and largely torn away in vol. 8; title page in vol. I detached, but present; occasional minor dampstains, occasional foxing or darkening of the plates; uncut, the last few gatherings of vol. 10 unopened, and bound in the original woodblock and color stencil-printed wrappers, retaining at the bottom of vols. 4, 8 and 9 the imprint and paper stock number of the papermaker François Pellé: "A Orléans chez Pelle No. 3." Contemporary manuscript paper labels on spines, the liners of most wrappers consisting of printers' waste; scattered chips and tears, some fraying of the edges, considerable wear to the backstrips, with loss, a few volumes with sewing loose. A pirated edition of Voltaire's 1764 edition of Corneille in unusual and striking stencil-printed wrappers. The work was first published in Geneva in 12 volumes, 1764-65.
(Inventory #: 52665)