DUVILLARD, Jean.
Oblong 4to (200 x 245mm), ll. 46 with juvenile pencil drawings, ca. half of them with water-colour wash; individual images dated and marked, a couple of drawings loose, else fine; original full cloth album, with ink lettering and dating to upper board (binding a little stained). A fine drawing sketchbook of Jean Duvillard, third son of the well-known architect Ernest Duvillard, who later trained as an architect himself. The sketchbook is clearly the result of drawing lessons, since the individual sketches are dated and marked in an adult hand, with remarks such as 'bien', 'très bien' or 'd'après nature'. At the time the young 'artist' Jean (1898- ) was just 7 to 9 years old. Some of the subjects are suitably 'childish', such as little animals (including an elephant, a bear or a goose), copied coloured sketches including a little princess facing a pelican, a ship and a locomotive, or a resting Barbar; others are decidedly more advanced, such as a bunch of cherries or a church from nature, and a number of copies of book illustrations. Particularly interesting are the well executed architectural drawings. Competent plans, elevations and views of buildings, which are clearly inspired by the the profession of the father. Ernest Duvillard (1859-1918) trained and practised as an architect and ran a successful architectural studio in Mulhouse. Amongst his buildings we find the Banque d'Alsace & Lorraine in Mulhouse and a number of private villas and mansions, both in Mulhouse and in Basel. He married into the Dollfus-Mieg family and later got involved in the reform of the business, (see J. Blanc, Les Engel, un famille d'industriels et philanthrope, 1994, p. 178 ff.).
HELLER, Aedgidius.
8vo, pp. 24; paper wrappers; small worm-hole to lower margin of last few leaves, including wrapper. First edition of this academic dissertation arguing the benefits of practical experimentation in the sciences, and the necessity of experimental laboratories. Based on Diderot, Fleck argues that practical application is indispensable as a prerequisite of real understanding. He exemplifies this with examples in mechanics, such as balances and hydrostatic balances, with the use of the eudiometer, thermometer, and medical electricity, all described with some reference to their invention. OCLC: Fulda.
[BEVERLAND, Adriaan.] translted and adapted by J.F. BERNARD.
12mo, pp. 256, [6]; contemporary mottled calf, triple gilt rule to sides, spine decoratively gilt, gilt-lettered spine label; an attractive copy; with early catalogue note in manuscript; private ownership stamp of Armand de Terwangne (consul general) to front free endpaper, and modern ex libris by Daniel Berditchevsky to front pastedown. First edition of J.F. Bernard's adaptation of Beverland's study of Original Sin, first published under the title De peccato originali in 1678. Beverland criticised the dogma of original sin and argued that sexual attraction between Adam and Eve was the original sin and the direct cause of the fall of humankind. The book was censored, Beverland briefly imprisoned and fined 100 florins, expelled from the University of Leiden where he was studying, and banned for publishing anything similarly controversial. The Amsterdam bookseller and author Jean-Frederic Bernard (c 1683-1744) published an adaptation in 1714 under the title Etat de l'Homme dans le peche originel, which was here reprinted with a slightly modified title. Bernard's attacks on traditional religious perspectives on sexuality are decidedly more pronounced than in Beverland's original. His view on sexual freedom are broadened Barbier IV, 7670Brunet, I, col. 837. - Caillet, I, p. 160, n° 1124. - Gay-Lemonnyer, II, col. 517. Seconde édition de cette imitation en français du Peccatum originale d'Adriaan Berverland (1653-1712).
PETRI, Friedrich Erdmann.
8vo, pp. xiv advertisements, xxxi, [1] abbr., 497, [1] imprint; paper somewhat browned and spotted; contemporary full sheep, spine ruled in gilt, gilt-lettered spine label, joints rubbed with short splits, but holding firm. Third edition (first 1804) of an attempt to protect the German language from an unregulated influx of foreign words, by giving German equivalents and explanations for foreign terms. Even though the author accepts the integration of some words into the German vocabulary as an inevitable process in a living language, he voices opposition to the fashionable use of foreign words, where there are perfectly adequate German equivalents. In the preface he defends the use of foreign terminology in science. NUC lists just one copy (NN), listed as part of Petri's Sprachlehre & Handwörterbuch. Frequent reprints appeared until 1903.
[DEFOE, Daniel.]
Three works in one volume, 8vo, pp. 45, [1] blank; 22; 61, [3] publisher's advertisements; all three works very clean and crisp; bound in contemporary red roan backed marbled boards. First edition, also published the same year with the imprint J. Ribbius, Utrecht, of Defoe's essay on the War of the Spanish Succession, first published in English in 1711 under the title The balance of Europe, or, an enquiry into the respective dangers of giving the Spanish monarchy to the emperor as well as to king Philip. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701?1714) embroiled the whole of Europe in a conflict triggered by the death in November 1700 of the childless Charles II of Spain. It established the principle that dynastic rights - of either the Bourbons or Habsburgs - were secondary to maintaining the balance of power in Europe. Although somewhat weakened, Spain was still a vast power, with control of parts of Italy, the Netherlands, as well as the Philippines and much of the Americas. By 1712 when Defoe wrote this essay the war was coming to an end with peace negotiations formally opened at Utrecht in January 1712 between representatives of France, England, and the United Provinces. Defoe took an increasingly contradictory stance on the War. 'He not only found the Peace of Utrecht acceptable but began arguing that were the Dutch and the Austrians successful in their attempts to bring France to its knees, England would have to go to war on the side of France to retain the balance of power in Europe. Why he persisted in this paradoxical position is difficult to say. He suggested it to [Lord] Harley in a letter of 27 May 1712 after the Dutch had published a series of effective 'memorials' defending their actions as proper and attacked the behaviour of the British as perfidious. As the Dutch and Prince Eugene absorbed a series of defeats throughout the summer of 1712, Defoe had less occasion to raise the dreadful notion of fighting an ally. He tried to explain how much he disliked the notion of a war against the Dutch, Britain's partner in maintaining Protestant power in Europe, but in advancing and dwelling upon this idea, he seems to have allowed his ideas too much play. It was hardly the first or last time that he allowed his love of paradox to triumph over his common sense' (Novak, Daniel Defoe, Oxford 2001, pp.427-8). Although now mainly known as a writer of fiction and satire, Defoe (c.1660-1731) had been deeply inured in politics for some years by this time. After a storied early life in business and trade (and a spell in prison), he became a government agent and spy, working for Lord Harley, particularly in Scotland where he infiltrated various anti-unionist groups in Edinburgh. He supposedly came to control much of the press there and although he was no longer in the government employ in 1712, he understood the importance of peace with France. Defoe supported Philip's claim to the Spanish throne, ' (Novak, Defoe, p. 398). The outcome the peace negotiations - what would become the Treaty of Utrecht - exercised the intellectuals of continental Europe as demonstrated by this collection of treatises. An interesting collection in a contemporary binding. I. WorldCat lists just three copies of this edition of Defoe's Balance, all in Germany; III. ESTC t90014.
[TRADE DIRECTORY.] BISSET, James.
8vo, (228 x 146) frontispiece map, pp. viii, [9]-62, [2], with 27 engraved emblematic plates, in all 28 engraved plates; a.e.g.; Royal paper copy on heavy wove paper watermarked Whatman; original publisher's presentation binding, decorated dark maroon straight grain morocco with gilt tooling to sides and spine, and oval green morocco inlaid title decorated with stars; extremities rubbed, but still a very nice copy. First edition of one of the earliest illustrated trade directories. On the finely engraved plates, Bisset lists more than three hundred merchants, bankers, tradesmen and manufacturers operating in and around Birmingham. Manufacturers are grouped together by trade, with illustrations of the most prominent factories or industrial tools in the background. The most famous of the factories is of course Matthew Bolton's Soho Works, which in addition to the steam engine business includes his button works, his mint and various other metal manufactories. The Soho Works was a complete system of manufactories, where each worker had only a limited range of work without any need to change position and tools constantly. The letterpress section contains Bisset's poetry which takes the reader on an enthusiastic tour of the city, with the express purpose of attracting visitors and trade to the city of Birmingham. The advertisement bound at the end indicates that manufacturers and tradesmen were invited to subsidize its production by paying either for a single line mention or for half page and full page display advertisements. Thus the overall cost of the directory was kept low. James Bisset (1762? - 1832) was an artist, publisher and popular poet. At the age of fifteen he became an artist's apprentice in Birmingham, and later established a museum and shop for the sale of curiosities in New Street. 'He had great facility in composing amusing and grandiloquent verses on the topics of the day so as to hit the popular fancy, and, while he obtained a considerable profit from their sale, they served to attract customers to his 'museum' and to advertise his medals' (DNB). ESTC t143270; Johnson 96; Norton 716.
[PUBLIC ORDER.]
Two works in two volumes, 8vo, pp. 116; 72; contemporary full red crushed morocco, sides and spine decoratively gilt, gilt-lettering directly to spine, a.e.g., with attractive yellow pattern-paper endpapers; a fine set. First edition, rare, of the rules governing the reformed papal police, based on the French Gendarmerie, and replacing the discredited earlier 'sbirri' of the Papal States. Whereas the earlier police force of the Papal States had been mainly responsible for executing the dictates and warrants of the judiciary, and were directly under the control of the various courts of Rome, the new police force, the Carabinieri Pontifici were to be made more accountable, and organized in a strictly hierarchical structure. A lengthy set of rules specify structure, duties and discipline for the organization. The regulations give pay and chains of command, details of outfit and equipment, pensions etc. Clear controls are put into place against unauthorized arrests etc. In individual tables the main functions of the police are outlined, and details of deployment are given, within the different parts of the city. Some of the police are deployed on foot, others on horseback. These reforms were executed under the leadership of Cardinal Consalvi, who argued that the Carabinieri had to be a 'moral force' representing a moral and all-powerful regime. The second work, Galassi's Sentimenti Morali e Brevi Istruzioni per un Carabiniere gives a more detailed insight into the everyday procedures and working practices of the Papal Police, with information on investigative practices, how to deal with fires, special regulations for policing markets, fairs and public events, how to deal with remand prisoners, how to transport prisoners to courts, etc. A handy compendium of useful documents concludes the volume. 1. Rossetti 10426; OCLC: St. Johns, MN; II. OCLC: Harvard Law, ICCU: Rome; see Steven Hughes, 'Fear and Loathing in Bologna and Rome the Papal Police in Perspective', in Journal of Social History, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 97-116.
THEATRE - MOUHY, Charles de Fieux, chevalier de.
8vo in 4s, pp. [ii] (series title dated 1763), xxii, [ii], 244, 88; 48 (the pagination of the six supplements is continuous); text printed within woodcut border; partly uncut, finely bound in late nineteenth century crushed blue morocco, spine in compartments, gilt-lettering directly to spine, tooled with theatrical mask to spine and to all four corners of upper and lower board, upper edge gilt, gilt dentelles; a fine copy. First edition, very rare with all six supplements present, of this detailed account of French theatre up to the middle of the eighteenth century. The supplements, which were published separately over the course of six years, are very rarely present. Here they are collected with a general title page, dated 1763, published 'at the expense of the author', and bound in a fine 'theatrical' binding. The Tablettes dramatiques are a most valuable source for the history of French theatre, covering first the history of the theatre, the history of the foundation of specific theatres, an inventory of plays performed or printed for the period 1552 to 1752, with critical commentary, and finally a biographical dictionary of authors and actors. The supplements generally follow the same format and give information on new plays, a performance calendar for the period in question, details of ballets, and biographical information on new emerging actors. A fascinating overview of French or more specifically Parisian theatre history, documenting the transition from medieval theatre to the highly organised and politicised drama up to the middle of the eighteenth century. The chevalier de Mouhy (1701-84), was a playwright and prolific author on the theatre, he also published an Histoire du theatre français depuit son origine jusqu'en 1780. Grand-Carteret (Almanachs Français) 192; Dufour, Bibliographie de Paris, p. 395; Soleinne, IV, 283; OCLC locates a number of copies of the main work, but only Dutch Royal Library, Lyon and Bibliotheque Nationale for the full complement of supplements.
ERMAGORA, Fabio.
8vo, pp. [ii] lithograph title page, 30 and 5 folding plates of musical notation; uncut in the original printed wrappers, title to upper wrapper within decorative border; edges a little frayed and small loss to spine. First edition of this choral manual by Venetian composer and maestro Fabio Ermagora. In this attractive tract, the choral teacher at the Venetian Istituto Musicale outlines his theory of singing. A series of lectures designed to teach the dedicated student how to improve and maximise their vocal strengths, the work begins with an overview of the basic skills required to become a talented choralist. Key to Ermagora's theory is a passion for music and a deep commitment to self-improvement and rigorous discipline. With these, and with natural talent, it is possible to improve and even become great. The lectures begin broadly ? On the Human Voice ? and combine Ermagora's evidently quasi-scientific theories about vocals as well as his extensive experience as a choral composer and conductor. The work is dedicated to Giuseppe Camploy, who offered Ermagora a teaching position at the Istituto, where he could develop his theories of singing. Ermagora was first and foremost a choral composer and conductor, and is known to have produced at least twenty-one recorded choral works. He was a peer of celebrated Venetian composer Nicolò Coccon, and together they had studied under Bonaventura Furlanetto. OCLC: Copenhagen.
VERA Y FIGUEROA, Juan Antonio.
4to, ll. [3], 151; 131, 20; some light foxing to foremargins, else very clean and crisp; contemporary full flexible vellum, ties; spine lettered in ink, with some dilettante decoration; a very good copy. Second edition (same year as the first edition) very rare, of this remarkable study of diplomacy, a Vade mecum for diplomats. El Embaxador, Antonio de Vera, first Count of La Roca's blueprint of the perfect ambassador, was widely known and used in Europe until at least the beginning of the eighteenth century, and preceded writers such as Wicquefort. De Vera gives general precepts of the profession, but also outlines the ultimate conflict between the honour of the ambassador and the good of the state, or between the welfare of the state and the higher purpose of the welfare of Christendom. In catchy asides he describes the role of the ambassador as 'to hear much, see much, consider everything and believe nothing'. The ideal archetype of the 'perfect ambassador' was expected to have some legal expertise, but his role and personality could not be reduced to that of a jurist. The diplomat transcended the restrictions of a legal education. The perfect ambassador was to bridge the ideal of an international community ruled by international laws and the 'Realpolitik' of international relations. During this time the increasing importance of ambassadors or diplomats was recognized in the creation of a new diplomatic office, the 'conducteur des Ambassadores', someone to mediate diplomatic protocol and with direct access to the king (see Albert J. Loomie, 'The Conducteur des Ambassadeurs of Seventeenth Century France and Spain', Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, Year 1975, 53-2, pp. 333-356.). De Vera was a diplomat himself, his diplomatic experience spanning the period from 1610 to 1642. In 1610 he was part of the diplomatic service of Gómez Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, III. Duke of Feria (extraordinary Ambassador in Paris). After this, he was on a mission for his own embassies to Savoy and Venice, ending in 1642. There are two editions of El Embaxador, both published in 1620. The first one includes an engraved frontispiece, whereas this one has a reset title page. Both are rare, but the present one is apparently the rarer of the two. Palau 358982; OCLC: Seville, National Library of Chile, National Library of Mexico, see: Peter N. Miller, Defining the Common Good: Empire, Religion and Philosophy in Eighteenth Century, 2004, pp. 48ff; see: Tracey A. Sowerby and Joanna Craigwood, Cultures of Diplomacy and Literary Writing in the Early Modern World, 2019.
RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas-Edme.
Two works in one volume, 8vo, pp.[iv] half title and title with the Delaleu imprint, 7 -368; pp. 172, [1] errata, [1] blank; contemporary mottled calf, spine ruled and decorated in gilt gilt-lettered spine label, sides with gilt filet; sides a little rubbed and scuffed, tail of spine chipped; a good copy with the armorial stamp of Charles Henneguier to title page. Rare first edition, first printing, of Restif de la Bretonne's Le Pronographe, with the name Delalein on the title. Delalain soon decided, however, that he did not want his name associated with the work and had the title pages reprinted with the imprint 'À Londres chez Nourse. A la Haie, chez Gosse et Pinet'. According to Cambridge University Library fewer than 10 copies of the original survive. The Pornographe is the first book in the renowned series of the 'graphes', where Restif de la Bretonne proposed to 'organize disorder', ie. regulate prostitution. It constituted a vast project of prostitution reforms in which Restif proposes to create a kind of religious order dedicated to Venus. The establishments ('Parthenions'), administered by the State, would be able to house thirty thousand subjects who would make up the community (the 'draft regulation' in 45 articles appears on pp. 111-171). 'This draft is enshrined in a small novel in the form of letters (.). The second part is filled with immense erudition on the sites of debauchery (.)' (Rives Childs, p. 16). The work inspired Joseph II to draw up the regulations on prostitution for the Austrian Empire. Bound with it is the first edition of Dusaulx's first study of the sociology of gambling, preceding his better known Passion du jeu (1779) by four years. Dusaulx, a reformed gambling addict, clearly puts the blame for the spread of gambling and the general decline of public morals on the government's political and financial interests. He condemns the immorality of state lotteries and the effect which they have on the public (see Dunkley, p. 148). He gives a vivid insight into the psyche of the gambler in an impassioned letter on gambling addiction, the 'Fureur du Jeu'. 'Although much of the evidence which Dusaulx, himself an ex-gambler, marshals is only what had been said before, part of his originality lies in his very forthright interpretation of the facts, and part of it lies in his much greater reliance on striking illustrations, intended to appeal to the reader's sensibilities more than to his purely rational faculties' (Dunkley, p. 144-5). The particular attraction of Dusaulx' diatribe against gambling lies in the original manner in which he treats it. He comes much closer to writing a novel than any of his predecessors, he depicts with moving details the effects gambling has on family and social life, contrasts the activities of the gamblers with idyllic country life, and describes a neglected wife, who waits in fear for her gambling husband to come back and announce the family's ruin. This personal approach, far more than any didactic moralising, led to the popularity of this work. From the library of Charles Henneguier (1811-1872), a lawyer in the Pas-de-Calais [north western tip of France], with his stamp to title. I. Childs, J.R. Restif de la Bretonne, VI, 1; Jacob, P.L. Restif de La Bretonne; p. 98-100; Cioranescu 27104; INED 1681; see J. Dunkley, Gambling: a Social and Moral Problem in France, 1685-1792, Oxford, 1985, pp. 145-152.
