Paris, Royal Printing House, 1673.
– [Followed by] : Relation of the Versailles festival on July 18th, 1668.
Paris, Royal Printing House, 1679.
– [And by] : The Entertainments of Versailles given by the King to his entire court upon returning from the conquest of Franche-Comté in the year 1674.
Paris, Royal Printing House, 1676.
Together three parts in one volume in folio of: I/ 91 pp., (1) p., 9 double-page plates; II/ 43 pp. and 5 double-page plates; III/ 34 pages, 6 double-page plates.
Red morocco, double framing of triple gilt fillet on the boards, crowned monograms at the corners, arms in the center, spine with raised bands decorated with the royal monogram repeated 6 times, roulette on cuts, gold-tooled inner roulette, gilt edges. Minor rubbing on the hinge. Period binding.
420 x 280 mm.
A splendid illustration by the great engravers of the time.
Brunet, I, 1443; Vinet, Bibliography of Fine Arts, 505-7; Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration, no. 53.
The first part consists of the title engraved on a double-page with a view of the Château de Versailles and the gardens and of 8 double-page plates engraved by Israël Silvestre in 1664: jousting, banquet, performance of the ballet of the Princess of Elide, theater set up in the middle of the great pond, parade of animals (elephant, llama, bear…), fireworks.
The second part, adorned with engraved arms on the title, contains an analysis of the “ Festes de l’Amour et de Bacchus ” opera whose lyrics were supposedly composed by Racine, Quinault, and Molière and music by Lulli. It includes the text of the couplets sung with the names of the performers. Molière, who left for Versailles with his troupe on July 10, 1668, and returned on the 19th, gave for the first time George Dandin.
The 5 plates engraved by the Paultre in 1678 represent the “ Festes de l’Amour et de Bacchus ” and the general appearance of the theater on which they were given in the park of Versailles, the refreshment, the banquet, the ballroom, and the illuminations.
The 6 double-page plates dedicated to the 1674 festivals were engraved in 1676, 5 by le Paultre and 1 by F. Chauveau. They represent “ Alceste », adorned with ballet entries and given at Versailles in the marble court, the royal concert under an arbor, the ‘Imaginary Invalid’ performed in the Versailles garden, in front of the grotto, the feast, the fireworks, and the illuminations around the great canal.
The whole of these 20 plates, very finely engraved, constitutes a splendid and very rich evocation in the details, of the theatrical performances, ballets, concerts, feasts, and illuminations characteristic of the lavish festivals given at Versailles by Louis XIV.
Superb contemporary morocco copy with royal arms of one of the greatest festival books of the 17th century.
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