VENDU
2 tomes in 8 volumes, large 4to (350 x 260 mm) an engraved and coloured frontispiece title, 5 nn.ll. (half-title, title, one blank leaf, engraved dedication leaf, 1 l. of foreword), XI, XXXIV, 86 pp., 24 engraved and coloured plates (numbered 1 à 24) for part I; 2 nn.ll, pp. [87]-343, 1 nn.l. (notice to bookbinder), 3 plates printed in black, plates numbered 25-84, and 8 additional plates (numbered 1 à 8) engraved and coloured for part II; engraved and coloured title-frontispiece, 2 nn.ll. (half-title and title), X, 132 pp., plates numbered 85-122 engraved and coloured for part III ; engraved frontispiece printed in black, 2 ff.n.ch. (half-title and title), 90 pp., 1 nn.l., pp. [91]-215, 1 nn.l. (errata), plates 123-171 engraved and coloured for part IV ; 2 nn.ll. (half-title and title), 152 pp., 1 nn.l. (notice to subscribers), plates 172 – 210 engraved and coloured for part V ; 2 nn.ll. (half-title and title), 176 pp., 1 nn.l. (errata), plates 211 – 257 engraved and coloured for part VI; 2 nn.ll. (half title and title), 173 pp., 1 nn.l. (errata), plates 258 – 305 engraved and coloured for part VII; 2 nn.ll. (half-title and title), 157 pp., 1 nn.l (notice to subscribers), plates 306 – 342 engraved and coloured for part VIII. Early 19th century blue morocco backed boards, spine gilt with raised bands (Ducastin).
1 in stock
Nissen, ZBI, 1300 ; Horn-Schenkling, 6051 ; Brunet, II, 1048-1049 ; Flety, 62.
First edition dedicated to Jean Gigot d’Orcy (1733-1793) of one of the most beautiful books about butterflies. Limited edition of only 250 copies published, reserved to subscribers, illustrated with 350 magnificent coloured plates.
The Reverend Father Jacques Louis Florentin Engramelle (1734-1814), a monk at the Petits-Augustins convent, was commissioned by the wealthy collector Jean Gigot d’Orcy (1733-1793) to produce a large book describing in detail his magnificent natural history collection. Gigot d’Orcy associated him with the Alsatian naturalist illustrator Jean-Jacques Ernst, also a butterfly collector. The first volume was published by subscription in Paris in March 1779. From 1779 to 1792, twenty-nine fascicules in eight successive volumes, describing more than 3,000 specimens. Most of them are described in three states, the first being the caterpillar, the second the chrysalis, and the third, the so-called “perfect state”, being the imago.
Gigot d’Orcy assembled the most important entomologist’s collection of his time. He kept it in his hotel on the Place Vendôme, today the headquarters of the Boucheron company, which he had bought for 180,000 livres in 1780. At his death, his rich and elegant library was sold at auction (Catalogue des livres de feu citoyen Gigot d’Orcy, Paris, Veuve Tillard et fils, 1794) and the natural history cabinet followed ten years later (Catalogue abrégé des minéraux, coquilles, madrépores et autres objets faisant partie du cabinet de feu M. Gigot d’Orcy, Paris, 1804).
The illustration of this magnificent publication includes 3 engraved frontispieces (2 of which are coloured), 350 plates (1-342, and 8 additional plates) coloured at the time, including a few rare plates enhanced with gold or silver, 3 technical plates printed in black (butterfly hunting instruments), as well as the engraved dedication leaf.
A magnificent copy, with full margins, bound around 1820 by Ducastin, a family of printers and bookbinders since Henry IV.
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