DESCRIPTION DES PRINCIPALES PIERRES GRAVEES DU CABINET DE S.A.S. MONSEIGNEUR LE DUC D'ORLEANS

Paris: La Chau et Le Blond, 1780-84. FIRST EDITION. 295 x 210 mm. (11 5/8 x 8 1/4"). Two volumes..
VERY HANDSOME SCARLET STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO, ELABORATELY GILT, BY LEFEBVRE (stamp-signed at foot of spine), covers framed with a cresting roll studded with urns and floral swags, sun cornerpieces, this framed by multiple plain and patterned rules, raised bands, spine panels densely stippled, with floral sprigs radiating from a central circlet, gilt lettering, turn-ins gilt, sky-blue silk moiré endleaves, all edges gilt. In an attractive custom-made morocco-backed clamshell boxes lined with fleece. Each volume with an engraved title vignette and headpiece, first volume with engraved frontispiece, 56 engraved tailpieces, and 186 PLATES depicting engraved gems and medals, INCLUDING THE EXTRA SEVEN depicting erotic medals. Front pastedown with the ex-libris of Philip Hofer; verso of front flyleaf with bookplates of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow, and Albert de Saxe; initial blank with the bookplate of David R. Godine. Cohen-de Ricci 542; Ray 67; Brunet III, 727. A handful of minor dark spots to the boards, occasional very minor foxing, some leaves and plates with a faint overall browning, one plate with an expert marginal repair (not approaching the image), but AN ESPECIALLY PLEASING COPY, entirely clean and fresh internally, printed on very bright paper, and in sparkling bindings showing almost no wear.

Superbly bound and with notable provenance, this is the sumptuously illustrated catalogue of the Duc d'Orléans' extensive collection of engraved gemstones, our copy including the often missing cancelled leaves and seven extra erotic engravings. Duke Philippe II d'Orléans (1674-1723), who served as Regent of France during Louis XV's minority, assembled a large collection of ancient engraved gemstones and medals, which were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia during the French Revolution and now reside at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The present catalogue, produced after the collection had been inherited by Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d'Orléans (1747-93), was the work of by Gaspard Michel, Abbé Le Blond, librarian at the Bibliothèque Mazarine, and Geraud, Abbé La Chau, who was associated with the Palais Royal, Paris. The plates are nearly all the work of Jacques-Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-80), the older brother of the well-known Augustin. Despite the aim of the work as being largely documentary (in Ray's words, Saint-Aubin depicted the gems with "minute exactness"), it is nevertheless full of rich and imaginative artwork, with graceful vignette tailpieces inspired by the original stones. The official publication--with the names of two clergymen attached to it--omitted a few spintria, or Roman erotic medals, and provided edited versions of a few stones with the original exaggerated genitalia of fauns and satyrs reduced or removed from the composition. However, seven supplementary plates were produced showing the actual erotic stones and medals, and all are present here, along with both the cancelled and uncancelled states of pp. 135-36 and 261-62 of the first volume and 61-64 of the second volume, with the criticism of Flaconet in the first case and the erotic culs-de-lampe in the latter two. Our copy is offered in splendid bindings by Lefebvre, who took over the workshop of his uncle, the celebrated Jean-Claude Bozerian (called Bozerian l'aîné, to differentiate him from other Bozerian binders) when the latter retired. The standard of workmanship remained consistently high under Lefebvre, and the present bindings, with immaculate, glittering tooling over red morocco, are no exception. Our copy has graced the shelves of no fewer than four notable collections. The first recorded owner is Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Teschen (1738-1822), the founder of the Albertina in Vienna, which to this day houses one of the world's finest collections of old master prints and drawings. This copy later passed into the library of Philip Hofer (1898-1984), librarian, bibliographer, and collector, whose wide-ranging and extensive collection had a particular focus on illustrated works. He was the founder and first curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard's Houghton Library, to which he left the majority of his collection. Our next notable owners were Arthur (1922-2012) and Charlotte Vershbow (1924-2000), who together built a large collection of prints, illuminated manuscripts, and printed books. Their collection sold at Christie's New York in a series of four auctions in 2013 (the present volume was lot 771, selling for $8,125, all in). Most recently, our copy belonged to American publisher David R. Godine, who trained as a printer at Leonard Baskin's Gehenna Press before founding his own publishing firm in 1970. His interest in the art of the book led him to build an extensive library of early printed books, with a particular focus on French illustrated works. Two portions of his collection sold for more than $950,000 at Bonham's New York in May 2026..