A Paris, chez les Auteurs, et à Dijon chez Frantin, 1779-1781.
3 volumes in-8 of: I/ (2) ff., 2 engraved frontispieces, xii pp., c pp., 384 pp., 20 plates out of text; II/ 2 frontispieces, xxiv pp., 414 pp., (1) f., 11 plates out of text; III/ 1 frontispiece, xi pp., 420 pp., 18 plates out of text. Full mottled calf, spines with raised bands decorated, red morocco title and volume labels, gilt fillet on edges, red edges. Contemporary binding.
197 x 117 mm.
First and only edition of the finest eighteenth-century work devoted to Paris.
Cohen 692; Berkvam, La Vie parisienne, no. 41; Lacombe, Catalogue, no. 931; Dufour, 55; Mareuse, no. 12128.
This unfinished but very finely illustrated title has become rare in all its issues: only the first volume is by Edme Béguillet (d. 1786); the two others, published in 1780 and 1781, were written by Poncelin (1746–1828).
It offers an impressive series of views of the principal monuments of the capital before the Revolution, remarkable both for the finesse of the engraving and for the rarity of certain representations (notably the educational establishments).
It is the entire organization of the capital across the centuries, compiled in these pages, that provides a wide overview of the structure of the city at the end of the eighteenth century. Contemporaries appreciated these finely illustrated works that showed Paris at its best.
Béguillet and Poncelin were following in the footsteps of Piganiol de la Force with his Description historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs, whose last edition dated from 1765.
“Ouvrage adorned with 3 engraved titles, 2 frontispieces, 3 headpieces, 10 allegorical and portrait plates, and 39 plates of views of Paris with 2 subjects per plate, all engraved by Martinet. Lovely illustrations.” (Catalogue des livres relatifs à l’histoire de la ville de Paris, 291)
“The engraved titles and frontispieces and the charming engravings represent the principal monuments of Paris at the end of the last century. The volumes II and III published later are very rare.” (Dufour, Bibliographie artistique, historique et littéraire de Paris avant 1789)
“The plates depicting the monuments of Paris or the former boulevards are remarkable for the fineness of the burin and very interesting in terms of the changes that have taken place in Paris.”
One notices lively street scenes, the colleges of the Quartier Latin, and the veterinary school of Alfort.
“Martinet’s etchings are perfect illustrations for these articles on all aspects of religious, civil, and intellectual life in Paris.” (Michael L. Berkvam)
Beautiful copy bound at the time, coming from the famous library of Doctor Lucien Graux.
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