La Henriade. Poème, suivi de quelques autres poèmes de Voltaire

Réf. 43823

€ 5500.00

VOLTAIRE illustrated by MOREAU le Jeune

S.l. [KEHL], - De l’Imprimerie de la société littéraire-typographique - 1789

Bookbinder : Bradel le jeune
Format : In-4.
Number of volumes : 1 volume.
Binding : Bound.
Collation : 624 pp.

Period full red morocco binding. Spine decorated with double gilded ribs and green morocco mosaics, gilded entrenerfs boxes with gilded boxes with curved fillets. Dishes composed of three mosaic frames of green morocco and tan lobed in the corners and middle, decorated with small irons. Fivefold mosaic frame in red, green and golden tan morocco. Blue silk lining and guards adorned with gold casters. All edges gilt. Large margins. Binder signed BRADEL Le Jeune (with its label at the address of Rue d'Ecosse, N°. 1 quartier Ste. Geneviève A Paris). Skilled restorations on copings and corners.

Rare volume of the 40-volume edition of the large in-4 volume that Beaumarchais wanted fully illustrated by Moreau the Younger. Only La Henriade was finished. It includes a portrait by Pourbus engraved by Tardieu and 10 figures engraved by Dambrun, de Launay, Duclos, Lingée... in two states, either a counter-proof or a state before the letter. Cohen (p. 1045): "There is a beautiful series of beautiful proofs before the letter and even etchings. These are extremely rare."

The title of Moreau's suite is bound at the top: Prints intended to decorate M. de Voltaire's editions. Engraved after the drawings of Mr. Moreau, draftsman and engraver of the King's cabinet [...] they are sold separately from the Editions. In Paris, Chez l'Auteur, n.d.

Bookplate with crowned CD number, from the 19th century.

Very beautiful copy in a mosaic binding signed by Bradel the young man