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An attractive copy in a German heraldic binding of these popular apocryphal memoirs, first published in Amsterdam in 1761. Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle (1684-1761) was the grandson of the famous finance minister to Louis XIV. Chevrier’s work was hugely popular, running to many editions in French and being translated into English as The Political Testament of the Marshal Duke of Belle Isle, London 1762. The subjects covered include taxation, commerce, law, imports, the celebacy of priests and luxury. Chapter Five (pp. 97-101) is about the history of the young pretender and the Stuarts. ‘Je vois, avec douleur, que tous les Princes de la Maison de Stuard ont mérité l’horreur de leur situation par foiblesse, ou par nonchalance, & je pense qu’il faut regarder cette Maison comme éteinte, par le découragement de celui qui seul peut la relever’ (p. 102).

Two important articles written by Diderot for the Encyclopédie and bound here in modern green vellum. The first article in the volume was originally entitled ‘Beau’ in the Encyclopédie (tome II, 1751) and this is the first appearance under this title and the first printing of both essays outside the Encyclopédie.
In this key work on aesthetics, Diderot discusses many writers - Crouzas, Hutcheson, Wolf - but acknowledges a superior debt to Yves-Marie André, who has ‘most furthered the understanding of this subject... and formed the truest and most solid principles’. Diderot echoes André’s work when he explores the relationship between feeling and beauty: ‘But tell me, is a thing beautiful because it pleases, or does it please because it is beautiful? There is no problem; it pleases because it is beautiful’. Diderot’s essay brings together his first-hand knowledge of artists and their work (learnt from friends like Chardin and Falconet as well as from his experience as critic of the Salons), with a broader moral and civic aesthetic in which art becomes an instrument of social change.
Diderot’s essay De la philosophie des Chinois was the second of two entries on China supplied by Diderot for the Encyclopédie. The first one, ‘Chine’, concentrated on the known facts and merits of China and its culture. By contrast, this essay was a virulent attack both on the Jesuits and on the idolatry and superstitions of the Chinese. Criticising the Sinophilia prevalent in France at the time, Diderot argues that much of what was praised about Chinese culture was based on unreliable translations and he presents in its place a poor picture of an idle, idolatrous and uncivilised nation.
Traité du beau and De la philosophie des Chinois were first reprinted as part of the third volume of the first collected edition of Diderot’s works, Œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques, Amsterdam 1772, from which these two titles have been taken. Given the modern binding, it is impossible to know if it was originally bound and offered for sale separately or if it was extracted more recently. Adams notes that individual volumes of this six volume collected works as well as works within the volumes were frequently offered separately.
‘On trouve souvent imprimés à part les volumes de cette édition, qui furent mis en vente tels quels à l’époque, sans le faux-titre et le titre général et avec le titre particulier seulement. Parfois, les œuvres dont se composent certains volumes furent également détachés et mises en vente’ (Adams, I, p.84).
Adams also notes a German translation of De la philosophie des Chinois by Johann Jakob Engel which was published in Philosophische Werke des Herrn Diderot, Leipzig, 1774.

An exquisitely bound copy of the ‘horae’ of the Virgin Mary, once in the library of the great Neapolitan collector, bibliophile, bookseller and bookbinding scholar, Tammaro de Marinis (1878-1969).
It was printed by Giovanni Maria Salvioni (1676-1755), who was in charge of the Vatican Press from 1717. The elegant binding was probably produced after the style of the Salvioni workshop, known for its use of painted edges - ‘a revival of a form of decoration unknown in Rome since the reign of Pius V’, who died in 1572 (Hobson, French and Italian Collectors and Their Bindings, p.190). In it, the gilt and lavishness of the Roman fashion merges with the charming modesty of provincial workshops.
The ‘Uffizio’ includes a calendar of mobile feasts and saints’ days, instructions on recitation, the psalm, readings and hymns for each hour of the day during the liturgical year, followed by the Office of the Dead, the Seven Penitential Psalms and others prayers and orations. Although it was originally intended for the religious, lay people were also encouraged to devote part of their day to the recitation of the ‘horae’ to the Virgin Mary. The handsome engraved illustrations in this edition, both delightful and useful as aides-mémoire, were produced by Arnold Westerhout, Joseph Passarus and J. Hieronymus Frezza. They portray key scenes from the Old Testament, such as Adam and Eve being banned from Eden (in the frontispiece), and scenes from the life of the Virgin.

A scarce and delightful work by the prolific Della Torre Rezzonico, writing under the pastoral pseudonym of Dorillo Dafneio. Produced at the press of Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813), this is one of numerous occasional publications, adorned with handsome engraved typographical ornaments, which he printed at the Royal Press of Duke Ferdinand of Parma and the Archduchess of Austria, Maria Amalia. Count Carlo Gastone dell Torre di Rezzonico was the darling of Roman society, a member of the Roman Accademia dell’Arcadia and a fashionable and accomplished poet, amateur musician and the organiser of legendary court parties. The philosophical, ornate verse in this collection, dedicated to Ferdinand and Maria Amalia, was typical of the Count’s activity at the court of Parma; for this work he was appointed chamberlain and colonel.

First edition of this comprehensive biography and bibliography of Giammaria Mazzuchelli (1707-1765). He is mostly remembered for his vastly ambitious work, the Scrittori d’Italia, 1753-1763, which, though it only extended to the first two letters of the alphabet, was widely praised for its biographical and bibliographical detail. In addition to his work as literary historian, Mazzuchelli was also an important cultural figure, as is clear from the list of his correspondents, which include Carli, Beccaria, Belgrado, Maffei, Muratori, Volpi and Tiraboschi. For a Brescia printing, it is also worth noting that Mazzuchelli was the founder of the Academia Mazzuchelliana, the Brescia literary society.

A scarce edition of Jean Baudoin’s popular translation of Godwin’s ground-breaking science fiction fantasy, The Man in the Moone, London, 1638. Baudoin’s translation was first published under the title L’homme dans la lune, ou le voyage chimérique fait au monde de la lune nouvellement descouvert, par Dominique Gonzalez, adventurier espagnol, autrement dit le Courrier volant, Paris 1648. Godwin’s work is important not only as an early interplanetary voyage with a utopian description of the society on the moon but also for its interpretation of the astronomical theories of Copernicus and Kepler. in this French translation, it was also a key inspiration for Cyrano de Bergerac’s Histoire comique contenant les Etats et Empires de la Lune, Paris 1657.
Originally published posthumously and anonymously, the work is written in the first person by the protagonist, a Spaniard called Domingo Gonzalez, who is forced to feel Spain after killing a man in a duel. In the course of his travels, he develops a flying machine powered by a species of wild swan. In attempting to escape from hostile natives, Gonzalez flies higher and higher and eventually, after a flight of twelve days, reaches and lands on the moon, where he discovers a society of tall, peaceful Christians called the Lunars. Gonzalez spends six months living in this peaceful Utopian society, before returning to earth in his swan-powered flying contraption and passing on his remarkable adventures to the Jesuits.

A scarce illustrated edition of Voltaire’s philosophical novel, printed in London for Gaetano Polidori (1764-1853), father of John William Polidori and grandfather of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Gaetano Polidori came to London in 1790 where he taught Italian as well as translating a number of works into Italian, including Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. He published a number of works, including those of his grandchildren, and set up a private press in his house in London.
This is a delightful pocket edition of Voltaire’s enlightenment tale, first published in a slightly shorter form under the title Memnon in Amsterdam, 1747, with the full text appearing in the following year under the title Zadig. Second only to Candide among Voltaire’s contes philosophiques, and based on the Persian tale The Three Princes of Serendip, Voltaire uses the oriental setting to explore religious and metaphysical orthodoxy through the moral development of the protagonist. The oriental backdrop allows for thinly disguised references to the political and social problems of contemporary France.
The text is accompanied by a very attractive suite of thirteen aquatint plates and two vignettes drawn and engraved by Le Cœur. ‘Jolie petite édition peu commune de ce roman. Les figures existent imprimées en couleurs’ (Cohen-de Ricci).