Literature & Linguistics / French Literature

[ALMANAC - FRENCH]. Le joli Pont-Neuf, ou recueil de chansons; vaudevilles, &c. Almanach nouveau.
"Amsterdam" [= Paris?], sold in Paris, Duchesne, [1763]. 24mo (9.5 x 5.6 cm). Each page printed in simple woodcut border, with several small head and tailpieces. Contemporary gold-tooled French red morocco, fine green, gold, and white brocade paper endpapers with a foral pattern. [40] ll. Full description

BAÏF, Lazare de and [Charles ESTIENNE (editor)]. De re vestiaria libellus, ex Bayfio excerptus: addita vulgaris linguae interpretatione, in adolescentulorum gratiam atque utilitatem.
Paris, Roberti Stephani [Robert Estienne], (colophon: 13 April) 1541. Small 8vo (ca. 16.5 x 10.5 cm). With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Modern blueish-grey paper over boards with the title printed in black on the spine, red sprinkled edges. 68, [11], [1 blank] pp. Full description

BAÏF, Lazare de and [Charles ESTIENNE (editor)]. De vasculis libellus, adulescentulorum causa ex Bayfio decerptus, addita vulgari Latinarum vocum interpretatione.
Paris, Roberti Stephani [Robert Estienne], (colophon: 13 October) 1543. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Later blueish-grey paper over boards with the title printed in black on the spine. 52, [3], [1 blank] pp. Full description

BAYARD, Émile. [Proof impressions of illustrations for Alphonse Daudet's Fromont jeune et Risler aîné].
[Paris, 1885]. Folio (35 x 29 cm). Proofs of 12 engraved plates in many different states, giving 73 prints in total, engraved by Jules Massard and Eugène Abot after Emilé Bayard (image size 10.7 x 7.3 cm; plate size 19 x 14 cm). Contemporary half goatskin morocco. Full description

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni. Le philocope ..., contena[n]t l'histoire de Fleury & Blanchefleur, divise en sept livres traduictz d'Italien en Francoys par Adrian Sevin ...
Paris, Jean André, bookseller to the University (colophon: printed by Denis Janot), 1542 (colophon: 24 February 1542). Folio (31.5 x 21.5 cm). With Jean André's woodcut device on the title-page and 15 woodcut illustrations plus 21 repeats in the text (mostly 5.5 x 8 cm, each in any of several 4-piece decorative borders, including 8 foot pieces, each with a different coat of arms; one illustration 13.5 x 8.5 cm with an 8-piece decorative border), 5 woodcut decorated initials (2 series) plus 1 repeat, and many spaces with guide-letters for manuscript initials (not filled in). French calf (ca. 1760?), richly gold-tooled spine, gilt edges. VI, CLXXIIII ll. Full description

BONNEFONS, Jean. Pancharis.
Lyon, Thomas Soubron, 1593. 2 parts in 1 volume. 12mo. With a large woodcut printer's device on the title page of the first part, and a smaller variant device on the title page of the second part, further with 5 woodcut headpieces, 3 woodcut tailpieces, 6 woodcut decorated initials, and a border made up of typographical materials around the colophon. With: DURAND, Gillis. Imitations du Latin de Iean Bonnefons: avec autres gayetez amoureuses, de l'invention de l'autheur.
Lyon, pour Thomas Soubron (colophon: Etienne Servain), 1593. 17th-century gold tooled brown calf. 68; 153, [1] pp. Full description

[BRILLAT-SAVARIN, Jean Anthelme]. Physiologie du gout, ou méditations de gastronomie transcendante, ouvrage théorique, historique et à l'ordre du jour, dédié aux gastronomes Parisiens.
Paris, Auguste Sautelet et Cie. (back of title-page: printed by David), 1826 [1825]. 2 volumes. 8vo. With a woodcut device on both title-pages. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spines, marbled edges and endpapers. [2], XIV, [1], 6-390; 442 pp. Full description

[CADIÈRE, Catherine and Jean-Baptiste GIRARD (subject)]. Historische print- en dicht-tafereelen, van Jan Baptist Girard, en juffrou Maria Catharina Cadiere.
[The Netherlands?], 1735. Small 4to (24 x 18.5 cm). With 32 "scenes", each consisting of an engraved plate with a letterpress poem on the facing page. Gold-tooled red half goatskin morocco (2nd half of the 19th century), richly gold-tooled spine. 24, [128] pp. Full description

CAPUCIN, Père. Les emblèmes d'amour divin et humain ensemble. Expliquez par des vers François. Par un pere Capucin.
[Paris, ca. 1745]. 8vo. With an engraved title-page and 118 numbered full-page engraved emblems. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, sewn on 4 recessed cords, the spine divided into 6 fields by fillets, the 2nd with a red morocco label and each of the others with a flower (closed thistle?) and several small stamps, each board with a frame of triple fillets with a second flower inside each corner and a star at each corner intersection, gold fillets on board edges, gilt edges, marbled endpapers (red, yellow, green, blue and white, curled). 119 ll. Full description

CERF, J. de. [Oval miniature portrait painting of Voltaire].
[France?], "1687" [= ca. 1735?]. Oval portrait painting (11 x 9 cm) in grisaille on copper, with a note on the back "J. de Cerf A[nn]o 1687". Mounted in a gilt rectangular wooden frame (34.5 x 28 cm). Full description

[CHAPBOOKS - FRENCH]. Histoire de la belle Heleine de Constantinople, mère de St. Martin de Tours en Touraine, & de St. Brice, son frère.
Troyes, Pierre Garnier, [ca. 1738].
With:
(2) [FORTUNATUS]. Histoire des avantures heureuses et malheureuses de Fortunatus, avec sa bourse et son chapeau. Enseignant comme un jeune homme se doit gouverner.
Troyes, chez Jean Garnier, [ca. 1760].
(3) [JEAN DE PARIS]. Histoire de Jean de Paris, Roi de France.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier & Fils, [ca. 1740].
(4) [JEAN DE CALAIS]. Histoire de Jean de Calais.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier & Fils, [ca. 1760].
(5) [ROBERT LE DIABLE]. La terrible et merveilleuse vie de Robert le Diable, lequel après fut homme de bien.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1740].
(6) [RICHARD SANS PEUR]. Histoire de Richard sans Peur, Duc de Normandie, fils de Robert Le Diable, Qui par sa prudence fut Roi d'Angleterre, & fit de grandes conquêtes & vaillances.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1740].
(7) GARGANTUAS, La vie du fameux Gargantuas, le plus terrible geant qui ait jamais paru sur la terre. Traduction nouvelle dressée sur un ancien manuscrit qui s'est trouvé dans la Bibliothèque du Grand Mogol.
Troyes, la veuve Jacques Oudot, 1715.
(8) [TIJL UILENSPIEGEL]. La vie joyeuse et recreative de Tiel Ulespiegle, de ses faits merveilleux & fortunes qu'il a eues lequel par aucune ruse ne se laissa pas tromper.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1765].
8 works in 1 volume. 8vo. 19th-century half dark blue morocco, decorated paper sides, gold-tooled spine with "Bibliothèque bleu" lettered in gold, marbled edges, marbled endpapers, bound by Vanette in Paris. 95, [1]; [1], [1 blank], [6], 154, [5], [1 blank]; 47, [1]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 48; 46, [2 blank] pp. Full description

CHARLEVAL, Charles-François de. Navis carmen.
Rennes, widow of Mathurnus Denys, 1695. With a folding engraved plate of a 44-gun ship.
With: (2) CHARLEVAL, Charles-François de. Simius carmen.
Rennes, widow of Mathurnus Denys, [ca. 1695]. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. 34, [2 blank], 31 pp. Full description

[CHARRIERE, Isabelle de, Belle van ZUYLEN]. Lettres écrites de Lausanne.Including: Caliste ou suite des lettres écrites de Lausanne.
Genève and Paris, Prault, 1788. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine. [4], 118, [2]; [2], 148, [4] pp. Full description

[DU BARTAS, Guillaume de Salluste]. La divina settimana: tradotta di rima Francese in verso sciolto Italiano.
Tours, Giametto Metaieri (Jamet Mettayer), 1592. 12mo. With the title with in a border, built up from cast fleurons, and some woodcut initials and headpieces. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [6], 152 ll. Full description

DU BARTAS, Guillaume de Salluste. Wercken door Zacharias Heijns.
[Zwolle, Zacharias Heyns], [1621]-1628. 3 parts in 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 engraved title pages, the engraved publisher's device on the title page of part 2, the engraved portrait of Zacharias Heyns in the text of part 1 and 34 full-page engravings (incl. 1 large folding plate and 1 plate outside the collation) illustrating the days of the two weeks and the other texts by Du Bartas. Woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Both volumes bound in almost matching 17th-century vellum, both spines with manuscript title in black ink. Volume 1: part 1: [12], 1-168, 168-183, [1], 184-313, [1] pp.; part 2: [8], 634, [6] pp. Volume 2: part 3: [8], 150, [2], 231, [1] pp. Full description

DUFFEYTE-DILHAN, Joseph. Les mémoires d'un ange, ou Les femmes vengées, roman historique, philosophique et moral, ... Tome I.er[-II.].
[Bordeaux], Edmond Ramadié, [1839-1840, with the authors 1843 printed dedication to the Dutch Queen Anna Pavlovna of Russia]. 2 volumes. 8vo. With 2 copies of the 4-page 1843 dedication to Queen Anna Pavlovna printed on heavy wove paper, signed by the author in brown ink on the first and last page and tipped onto the title-page in each volume. Contemporary finely diced (in horizontal lozenges) and gold-tooled red morocco for presentation to the Queen, (each board with a crown above flowers as centrepiece, and a decorative frame built up from separate tools; the spine with the title and volume number in the middle with decorations above and below), gold-tooled board edges, gilt edges.
With: (2) DUFFEYTE-DILHAN, Joseph. [Autograph, signed letter to Anna Pavlovna].
[Bordeaux?, 1843?]. 4to. Letter in ink on two sides of one leaf of a folded bifolium, signed by the author. “408” [= 406]; 419, [1 blank] pp. Full description

FAERNO, Gabriello. Cent fables en Latin et en François, choisies des anciens auteurs, mises en vers Latins ..., et traduites par Mr. Perrault, ...
London, C. Marsh & T. Payne, H. Slater, S. Baker, F. Noble, W. Bathoe, J. Palairet, 1744. 4to. With richly designed, engraved frontispiece, and 99 (of 100) fine engraved illustrations to the fables on integral leaves. Early 19th-century half calf, for the Signet Library in Edinburgh, each board with the gold-tooled British Royal arms. [1], [1 blank], II, [1], [1 blank], [18], 238, [2], 45, [1 blank] pp. Full description

FÉNELON, François. Les aventures de Télémaque.
Paris, [Pierre François Didot le jeune], 1785. 2 volumes. Super royal 4to. With 98 hand-coloured plates, namely two engraved title pages in volume 1, 72 illustration plates engraved by Jean-Baptiste Tilliard after drawings by Charles Monnet, and 24 engraved plates with summaries of the "books" in decorative frames. Further with an elaborate armorial device on the title page of each volume. Contemporary gold-tooled dark greenish-brown morocco, a red morocco title and volume label on the spine, lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers. [3], [1 blank], [4], 309, [3 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 297, [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description

GESSNER, Salomon. Mort d'Abel, Poëme. Traduit par Hubert.
Paris, chez Defer de Maisonneuve, 1793. Large 4to. With a stipple-engraved colour-printed frontispiece, and 5 stipple-engraved colour printed plates by Colibert, Casenave, and Clément after the designs of Nicolas Moniau. Contemporary gold-tooled brown and green mottled calf. 161, [3 blank] pp. Full description

[GOETTHEM, Pieter van (attributed)]. La lyre d'Apollon en poësies meslées, et les mieux choisies de ce temps. Composées par un Zelandois, & amateur dicelles. En cançons, Aïrs, rondeaux, estrenes, & epitaphes, &c.
Middelburg, Pieter van Goetthem, 1657. Oblong 16mo. With the title-page, and page 5 and 7 printed in red and black, 2 decorated woodcut initials, and a woodcut tailpiece. Contemporary vellum, sewn on 2 supports laced through the joints. 432 pp. Full description

[HUGO, Victor]. [Théatre. Gravures sur soie].
[Paris, J. Lemmonyer, G. Richard and Cie, E. Testard, between 1885-1895]. 4to (ca. 27 x 24.5 cm). With 30 full-page engravings on silk. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, with the title and author lettered in gold on the spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn ins, marbled end papers. Bound by the French bookbinder Louis Guétant (1848-1936), signed in the bottom turn in of the front board. [30] silk ll. Full description

[KERSTEMAN, Franciscus Lievens]. Historie van mevrouwe de hartoginne van Pompadour. [Wrapper-title: Levensbeschryving van de hartoginne van Pompadour].
Zaltbommel, Johannes Willem Kanneman, 1761. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and title-page printed in red and black. Recased in 18th-century vellum, later endpapers, preserving the original publisher's printed wrappers. [8], 207, [1 blank] pp. Full description

[LACLOS, Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de]. Les liaisons dangereuses, ou lettres recueilles dans une société, & publiées pour l'instruction de quelques autres. Par M. C..... De L.
Amsterdam; Paris, Durand Neveu, 1782. 4 volumes bound as 2. 12mo. Contemporary sprinkled calf, blind-tooled double fillet frame on boards, sewn on 5 supports, gold-tooled spine with gold-tooled brown leather labels and red sprinkled edges. 248; 240; 230; 256 pp. Full description

LA FEUILLE, Daniel de. Essay d'un dictionnaire contenant la connoissance du monde, des sciences universelles, et particulierement celle des medailles, des passions, des moeurs, des vertus et des vices, &c. Representé par des figures hyerogliphiques, expliquées en prose & en vers.
Wesel, Jacobus van Wesel, 1700. 4to. With engraved frontispiece and 48 engraved plates (incl. 2 double-page). Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. [8], 144, [8] pp. Full description

LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Contes et nouvelles en vers.
Amsterdam [= Paris], [Joseph-Gérard Barbou], 1762. 2 volumes. 8vo. With engraved portraits of La Fontaine and Eisen and 80 engraved plates after drawings by Eisen and engraved by Aliamet, Baquoy, Choffard, Delafosse, Flipart, Lemire, Leveau, De Longueil and Ouvrier, and 4 vignettes and 53 head- and tailpieces by Pierre-Philip Choffard. An engraving of Le calendrier des vieillards in its découvert state is loosely inserted in volume 1. Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges. XIV, [2], 268, [2], 16; VIII, [2], 306, [8], [2 blank] pp. Full description

LA MOTTE, Antoine Houdar de. Fables nouvelles, dédiées au Roy. Avec un discours sur la fable.
Paris, Gregoire Dupuis, 1719. 4to. With engraved allegorical frontispiece by N. Tardieu after Charles Coypel, engraved vignette on title-page by C. Simeneau after N. Vleughels and 100 engraved illustrations to the fables by and after Claude Gillot, Charles Antoine Coypel, Jean Ranc, Bernard Picart, Jean Baptiste Massé, etc. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine. XLII, [4], 358, [2] pp. Full description

[LA SALE, Antoine de (attributed)]. Les quinze joyes de mariage, extraicts d'un vieil exemplaire escrit à la main, passez sont quatre cens ans.
Rouen, Raphaël du petit Val, 1596. 12mo (ca. 14x8 cm). With a woodcut printer's device on the title page, a woodcut illustration, and several decorated woodcut initials, and woodcut head- and tailpieces. 19th-century gold tooled dark brown goatskin, with the title and publication details lettered in gold on the spine, a central ornament on both boards surrounded by two single fillet borders, gilt edges, marbled end papers, and "Bound by F. Bedford" stamped in gold on the front-turn in. 186, [5], [1 blank] pp. Full description

LA SERRE, Jean-Puget de. Le breviere des courtisans, enrichy d'un grand nombre de figures.
Paris, Jeremie Boüillerot, 1642. 8vo. With woodcut vignette on title page and 7 engraved plates depicting contrasting double-scenes, after designs by Nicolaas van der Horst. Gold-tooled red morocco attributed to Henry Gaillard (active in the third quarter of the 19th century), richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gilt edges. [6], 304 pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - CEYLON - NATURAL HISTORY]. Schets van eenige zoorten van dieren welke in de bosschen omstreeks Cijlon gevonden worden.
[Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Netherlands?], [18th or 19th century?]. 8vo (16.5 x 10.5 cm). Written in a late 18th-century or early 19th-century cursive in French and Dutch.
With: (2) [MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH & DUTCH POEMS AND SONGS]. [Quelques Chansons]. Contemporary decorated paper wrappers. [28] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH - IMAGINARY VOYAGE]. Voyage imaginaire. Poème. Chant 1-4.
Adegeest (manor house at Voorschoten, between The Hague and Leiden), 1853. Large 4to (27 x 21.5 cm). Loose quires in cover: marbled boards joined together by a spine of red painted sheepskin, green ties. [2], V, 81, 120, VI, 132, 131 pp. Full description

[MARTIAL d'Auvergne]. LIII. arrests d'amours. Arresta amorum. Accuratissimis Benedicti Curtii Symphoriani commentariis ad utrusque iuris rationem, forensiumque actionum usum quàm acutissimè accommodata. Le tout diligemment reveu & corrigé en une infinité d'endroits outre les precedentes impressions.
Rouen, Thomas Mallard, 1587. 16mo. With title within an ornamental woodcut border. 19th-century gold-tooled red sheepskin. 899 [=897], [58], [1 blank] pp. Full description

MARTINET, Jean. Emblesmes royales a Louis le Grand.
Paris, Claude Barbin, 1673. 8vo. With 60 numbered half-page engraved emblems and one unnumbered emblem on extra inserted leaf. Modern marbled boards. [10 (of 12)], 219, [3] pp. Full description

MELON, Jean-François. Mahmoud le Gasnevide, histoire orientale. Fragment traduit de l'Arabe, avec des notes.
Rotterdam, Jean Hofhoudt, 1730. 8vo. Contemporary marbled calf, gold-tooled spine, boards, board edges and turn-ins, both boards with the gold-tooled coat of arms of Louis Marie Alexandre, Duc d'Aumont, gilt edges. [2], VI, 162, [4] pp. Full description

[MORAES CABRAL, Francisco de and Jacques VINCENT (translator)]. Histoire du preux, vaillant et tres-victorieux chevallier Palmerin d'Angleterre, fils du roy Dom Edoard, contenant plusieurs faits d'armes & amours, & les estranges adventures par luy mises à fin.
Paris, chez Michel Sonnius (colophon part 2: Jean d'Ongois), 1574. 2 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title page of the first part, a typographical woodcut vignette on the title page of the second part, numerous decorated woodcut initials, woodcut headpieces, and vignettes in the text. Contemporary gold and blind tooled brown calf. [8], 346; [6], 280 ll. Full description

[NÉEL, Louis-Balthazar]. Voyage de Paris a St. Cloud par mer, et retour de St. Cloud a Paros par terre. Quatrieme édition, revue, corrigée & augmentée, avec une carte très-exacte, dont le plan a éte levé sur les lieux.
Paris, Duchesne, 1762. 8vo. Woodcut headpieces and endpieces, initials [1,5 x 1,5 cm], bound with fold out map [16 x 25.5 cm]. Contemporary vellum binding. xxvj, 118, [2], 120 pp. Full description

[OLIVIER, Abbé Jean]. D'ongelukkige Napolitaan, of zeldzaam levensbedrijf van Rozelli. Behelzende een historisch verhaal van zijne geboorte, Turkze slaverny, klooster leven, zitten in de inquisitie, en wat figuren hy verder in Italien, Vrankrijk, en Holland gemaakt heeft. Uit het Frans vertaald.
Utrecht, Jakob van Poolsum, 1716. 3 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo. With a full-page engraved frontispiece, a letterpress title in red and black, 16 full-page engraved plates, several woodcut head- and tailpieces, and woodcut initials. Contemporary gold-tooled calf, sewn on 5 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, a red morocco title label on the spine with the text "Leven van Rozelli" lettered in gold, red sprinkled edges. VI, 484, 36 pp. Full description

[PARAGUAY - KING NICOLAS I]. Histoire de Nicolas I. Roy du Paraguai, et Empereur des Mamelus.
Saint Paul [= São Paulo, but the work was likely printed somewhere in Western Europe], 1756. 8vo. With a typographical ornament on the title-page. Contemporary brown paste paper wrappers. 88 pp. Full description

PICART, Bernard. Explication des vignettes de la seconde edition des oeuvres de Boileau ...
Amsterdam, Bernard Picart, 1729. Oblong 4to. With 25 engraved vignettes and 2 engraved initials on 25 leaves. Contemporary blind-tooled mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled turn-ins. 8 pp., [25] ll. Full description

RABELAIS, François. Alle de geestige werken ... vervattende in ses boeken de dappere daaden en deftige reedenen van dovergroote reusen Grandgousier, Gargantua, en Pantagruel ... uyt het Fransch vertaelt door Claudio Gallitalo.
Amsterdam, Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn, 1682. 2 volumes. 8vo. With an engraved allegorical title page and a letterpress title page to each volume, and several decorated woodcut initials. Contemporary vellum. [40], 717, [3 blank], [8]; [32], 456, [30], [2 blank], 136, [8] pp. Full description

RACINE, Jean and Antonio José de Lima LEITÃO (translator). Iphigénia tragédia de João Racine. Traduzida em verso portuguez, e offerecida como uma prova da mais sincera gratidão.
Rio de Janeiro, Impressão règia, 1816. 8vo. With a woodcut printer's device on the title-page. Contemporary blue-grey wrappers. [8], 53, [3 blank] pp. Full description

ROUSSEAU, Jean Baptiste. Odes sacrées ..., détachées du corps de ses ouvrages.
Brussels, Gilles Stryckwant, 1738. 4to. With a woodcut coat of arms of Austria on title-page. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spine and board edges. [6], 109, [1 blank] pp. Full description

SAVARY, (Nicolas) Claude Étienne. Brieven over Egypte.
Amsterdam, Martinus de Bruyn, 1788-1789. 3 volumes. 8vo. With 4 numbered engraved folding plates, including maps of Egypt and northern Egypt, a plan of Alexandria, and a cross-section of the Great pyramid. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spines and binding edges. XVI, 446, [1], [1 blank]; XVI, 364, [2 blank], [1], [1 blank]; “XIV” [=XXIV], 390, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

SAVARY, Jacques. (= Jacques TIMENT). Album hipponae sive hippodromi leges. Ad Christianissimum et invictissimum Galliae et Navarrae regem Ludovicum XIV deo-datum.
Caen, Claudius Le Blanc, 1662. 4to. With a woodcut title-vignette and several woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. 19th-century marbled paper over boards, red sprinkled edges. [6], 2, 72 pp. Full description

TIRON, Antoine (translator). Recueil de plusieurs plaisantes nouvelles, apophtegmes, et recreations diverses ...
Antwerp, Hendrick Henricsz, 1578. 8vo. With 18 half-page woodcuts in the text, including the one on the title page. 19th-century brown morocco, with the title, year of publication, and name of the bookbinder (Bauzonnet) lettered in gold on the spine. [6], 165, [8], [1 blank] pp. Full description