•  Martin & Walter, II, 13122.   Folded as issued. Title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, touching three letters without obscuring sense, and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Page edges uncut, slightly ragged.  (30835)

Merlin also printed a duodecimo edition in 1767; in the present edition, “Fragmens de philosophie morale” is found on pp. 273–340, followed by the Addition and Approbation.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with large, round, gilt-stamped armorial leather bookplate of notable 19th-century bookseller and book collector James Toovey; smaller, round, gilt-stamped “I.T.” bookplate with motto “Inter folia fructus” (also Toovey's and of cream-colored leather); and bookplate of Sir Montague Shearman.

Binding:  Contemporary crimson morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls. This volume (complete in itself) seems at one time to have been part of a set of Marmontel's works, and bears an (unnumbered) spine label reading “Oeuvres de Marmontel.”

•  Brunet, III, 1440; Cohen de Ricci, Guide de l’amateur de livres à gravures du XVIIIe siècle, 688; Graesse 406; Tchermezine 455.   Binding as above, with edges, extremities, and joints showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with bookplates as above; front free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing; rear pastedown with small chip out of paper. Light spots of foxing, slightly heavier around plates. All edges gilt.  (25776)

Rare.  OCLC lists only four U.S. holdings and one deaccessioned copy (the present example).

•  Brunet 22420; Graesse, II, 154. Not in Adams.   19th-century quarter olive morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped author/title; edges and extremities rubbed. Top edge gilt. Front pastedown with bookplate as above; title-page and first text page each with early inked ownership inscription. Four leaves with small repaired tears from outer margins and three likewise from upper margins, not touching text in any case. Extensive early inked marginalia in first document, scattered examples elsewhere.  (23536)

•  Original slipcase, sides covered in patterned black cloth, bottom in another textured black cloth, front with color-printed illustration as above, back plain with small “Fabrication Française” paper label affixed; slipcase with edges and extremities rubbed, illustration slightly darkened. Plates very slightly dimmed, edges lightly spotted, images themselves overall clean. Uncommon and very appealing.  (31431)

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for an enlargement.

The third volume includes two plates and one oversized, folding plate reproducing two inscriptions and a frieze, engraved by E. Malpas.

Uncommon outside of Great Britain.

•  ESTC T113913; Brunet, I, 26; Lowndes, I, 5. Contemporary treed calf, spines gilt extra, with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels; leather worn at edges and moderately rubbed with joints cracking. Front pastedowns with private bookplates and signs that a plate was removed on front free endpaper (one vol. endpaper holed); impressions of old pencilled shelf numbers on title-pages (and one lightly inked old date). First two leaves of vol. III with upper margins stained and final leaf browned; some pages with a few spots of faint foxing, most clean and crisp.

Binding:  Publisher's apple green paper–covered boards in original matching slipcase with gilt-stamped spine title. All edges gilt.

•  Binding as above: lower front and back edges each with tiny bump, extremities showing very slight rubbing, slipcase with edges rubbed and a few small spots of discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations in French. Pages and plates clean. Really in quite remarkable condition.  (30574)

WorldCat and Lindsay & Neu combine to locate eight copies in the U.S.

Click the images for enlargements.

•  Lindsay & Neu 3238 (note collation variation).   Recent paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. A few pages institutionally pressure-stamped; inked numeral in upper outer corner of p. 2. Light foxing; pinhole worming in lower margins, not touching text. Two leaves with inner margins reinforced. A nice copy of an uncommon item.  (27773)

Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Martin & Walter 396.   Never bound, sewn as issued, with edges untrimmed. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and pencilled monogram in upper outer portion. One leaf with closed split running through several lines, without loss of text.  (30813)

•  Martin & Walter 1054.   Removed from a nonce volume; old stab holes visible. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner, touching typographic rule but not text; pencilled monogram in upper outer corner, and two small ink splotches in outer margin. Pages with a very few scattered light smudges, otherwise remarkably clean and crisp.  (30706)

•  Martin & Walter 1607.   Sewn, never bound; title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner, just barely touching but not obscuring two letters of publication information, and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Page edges untrimmed; one signature unopened. Gently age-toned, otherwise clean and crisp.  (30699)

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only five U.S. holdings.

Provenance:  Ownership “label” of George Williams (1814–78), who served as Vice-Provost of King's College (Cambridge) from 1854 to 1857.

•  Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped red leather title-label. Title-page with small affixed slip bearing ownership inscription as above. Occasional edge nicks and short tears, and a number of leaves with old creases or the odd smudge; last leaf with old, small repairs to margins, and one other leaf with very good repair from blank reverse to an interior tear (no text lost or even affected). (25368)

Although the work is here presented as a translation of a Persian manuscript done by “M. Esprit,” it is actually the work of Beauchamps, a French playwright and theatre historian. This is the second edition, following the first of 1728; various editions handled the obscurity level of the anagrams in different ways, with the present example offering a key at the back. This “renversée” key deciphers the anagrams and gives the solutions, but backwards: “Celulois” equals “Selliuoc.”

The work was translated immediately (1728) into English and published both in London and Dublin.

Binding:  Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed in gilt triple fillets, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped floral decorations. All edges marbled.

•  Brunet, II, 1064; Quérard, Les supercheries littéraires, I, 1254.   Binding as above, edges, joints, and extremities rubbed, with predictable acid-pitting to the mottling on the sides. Preliminary leaves with small pencilled and inked annotations, title-page with contemporary inked annotation regarding authorial information, endpapers with pencilled annotations on publication history, back free endpaper with affixed slip of early cataloguing, back pastedown with small shelving label. Scattered faint spots, pages overall clean.  (31101)

Binding:  20th-century hand-painted vellum, front cover with sailing ship between decorative bands accomplished in a style reminiscent of the Bayeux Tapestry, spine with title and decorations, back cover with castle tower and distant ship motif. Publisher's original tan paper wrappers with Celtic motifs bound in.

•  Binding as above, vellum slightly darkened, clean and tight. Front pastedown with small rubber-stamped monogram “MG.” Pages gently age-toned, else clean. One of the great medieval romances, and a truly lovely object.  (30283)

•  Shoemaker 15382. Contemporary speckled sheep, worn and abraded, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label. Front pastedown with early numerical inscription. Outer margins of last few leaves waterstained; some pages with mild cockling or light spotting, others with varying degrees of age-toning. (6030)

•  Darlow & Moule 1456; Rumball-Petre 52.   Publisher's dark green ribbed cloth, covers framed in blind with large, elegant blind-stamped floriate devices in the corners; spine with gilt-stamped title and list of languages, this rebacked preserving the majority of the original spine and lettering, corners refurbished. Lower page edges (closed), title-page, and final page each with an old institutional rubber-stamp, title-page and one sectional title pressure-stamped, first preface page with inked numeral in lower margin, no other markings. Two leaves each with short tear from upper inner margin, not touching text; a scattering of very light spots in first and final sections, central portion with more consistent but still extremely faint spotting in lower margins; overall a strong, clean, attractive volume.  (30972)

This is the second copy of this Bible that we have had and we are convinced that this is a publisher's deluxe leather binding. A choice of colors was apparently available, for the other copy we had was of an olive-green color.

•  Not in O'Callaghan; not in Darlow & Moule. Bound as above, corners a little bumped with a bit of long ago refurbishing thereto, dulling outermost elements of gilt border (only) on front cover, just at those corners. Faint waterstaining in lower inside area for the first few pages (only). The whole very attractive and well preserved.

Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only eight U.S. holdings.

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 19346.100.   Publisher's rose paper wrappers, rebacked in paper wrapper edges chipped and hinges (inside) reinforced. Half-title and title-page institutionally rubber-stamped, front pastedown with institutional bookplate and early inked numeral, half-title with small inked ownership inscriptions. Signatures unopened, edges untrimmed; pages age-toned throughout, some with a little foxing; a nice copy. Now housed in a neat rose-maroon cloth clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather title-label.  (25268)

Text in small roman type with side- and shouldernotes in roman and italic. Title-page with du Puys' xylographic printer's device.

•  Graesse, I, 460; Tchermezine, I, 235; Index Aurel. 120.824. This edition not in Adams.   Deep walnut full calf old style: Round spine with raised bands accented with gilt beading, blind-tooled center devices in compartments; old deep red leather spine labels from previous binding reused; fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in blind double fillets. Small brown stain in upper margins of pp. 800–1050, not into text; a few pages with light pencil underlining. Bodin's text complete, but volume without the “Apologie de Renê Herpin” that should appear after the index; priced accordingly. All edges carmine. Really, a rather nice copy of an important Renaissance text.  (27688)