Collection of eleven titles of French fiction in sixteen miniature volumes, produced for the Count d’Artois in 1780: "Zayde" -- "Le Berceau de la France" -- "l'Histoire d'Aloïse de Livarot" -- "Les Amours de Roger et de Gertrude" -- "Ismene and Ismenias. Roman Grec" -- "Le Prince Gerard, Comte de Nevers et la Belle Euriant, sa mie" -- "Histoire du petit Jehan de Saint" -- "Histoire de Tristan de Léonois" -- "Confessions du comte de ***" -- "Le Siege de Calais” -- “Sargines”

Paris: Imprimerie de Didot l'aîné (collection d'auteurs français pour Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois), 1780. Hardcover. Good. [1780-1781]. Sixteen volumes, pocket 18mo (133 x 74mm). Printed on fine laid paper. Uniformly bound in contemporary mottled French calf, ruled in gilt with olive morocco lettering labels, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. This beautiful miniature set was executed at the solitary expense of the Count d'Artois (1757-1830), later Charles X of France, and numbered in full 64 volumes; the aim of which collected various sets of French works in verse and prose. Influential Enlightenment writers were thus compiled here, many of them French female authors, and limited to an overall printing of 100 copies by the famed printer Didot of Paris. Consisting: 1) DE LA FAYETTE, Madame (1634-1693). "Zayde." 1780. 3 vols., 156, 135, and 166pp. A classic novel with stories on the political, social, and cultural communities of early modern Spain. 2) DAUCORT, Claude Godard d'Aucour (1768-1826). "Le Berceau de la France." 1780. 2 vols., 175 and 152pp. Rare, first published in 1744 as a history of French civilization. 3) RICCOBONI, Marie-Jeanne (1714-1792). "l'Histoire d'Aloïse de Livarot." 1780. 77pp. 4)RICCOBONI, Marie-Jeanne (1714-1792). "Les Amours de Roger et de Gertrude." 1780. 79pp. 5) [DUCLOS, Charles Pinot (1704-1772)]. “Ismene and Ismenias. Roman Grec." 1780. 115pp. 6) TRESSAN, Comte de (1705-1783). "Le Prince Gerard, Comte de Nevers et la Belle Euriant, sa mie." 1780. 171pp. 7) TRESSAN, Comte de (1705-1783). "Histoire du petit Jehan de Saint." 1780. 182pp. 8)TRESSAN, Comte de (1705-1783). "Histoire de Tristan de Léonois." 1781. 212pp.9) [DUCLOS, Charles Pinot (1704-1772)]]. "Confessions du comte de ***." 1781. 2 vols., 129 and 128pp. First published in 1742, a popular "portrait gallery" of the illustrious French. 10) TENCIN, Claudine Guérin de (1682-1749). "Le Siege de Calais.” 1781. 2 vols., 122 and 126pp. First published anonymously in 1739. 11)ARNAUD, François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d' (1718-1805). “Sargines.” 1781. 130pp. Good. Only light edgewear and some bumped corners, slightest spots, otherwise crisp and clean interior. The Count d'Artois, friend to Marie Antoinette and lover of the arts, sought to stimulate a renewal in fiction with the printing of this collection of novels in 35 titles. The overall collection of 64 volumes was printed from 1781 to 1784 and edited by the order of Louis XVI. Just two years later the French monarchy would be in crisis; bankrupt and facing various political upheavals in the years leading up to the Revolution. This surviving set dates from the time of relative peace before upheaval and before the Count later reigned as Charles X in the post-Revolution era in 1824. These survive as early relics of the French monarch's cultural interests and endeavors. François-Ambroise Didot printed no more than 100 copies as a whole impression; 60 with the arms of the prince and at least 40 were on common paper without the Count’s heraldry, as in these, while others were produced on vellum (See Ebert 4938). These works are extremely neatly printed on laid paper and stand as a precursor to Didot’s prolific typographic and printing career. Complete copies of the Count d’Artois’s collection are of utmost rarity; these portative sixteen make up an excellent union. Brunet 19413.

The Count d'Artois, friend to Marie Antoinette and lover of the arts, sought to stimulate a renewal in fiction with the printing of this collection of novels in 35 titles. The overall collection of 64 volumes was printed from 1781 to 1784 and edited by the order of Louis XVI. Just two years later the French monarchy would be in crisis; bankrupt and facing various political upheavals in the years leading up to the Revolution. This surviving set dates from the time of relative peace before upheaval and before the Count later reigned as Charles X in the post-Revolution era in 1824. These survive as early relics of the French monarch's cultural interests and endeavors. François-Ambroise Didot printed no more than 100 copies as a whole impression; 60 with the arms of the prince and at least 40 were on common paper without the Count’s heraldry, as in these, while others were produced on vellum (See Ebert 4938). These works are extremely neatly printed on laid paper and stand as a precursor to Didot’s prolific typographic and printing career. Complete copies of the Count d’Artois’s collection are of utmost rarity; these portative sixteen make up an excellent union. Brunet 19413.