Search Results: Titles starting with A from Comellas Rare Books

A Paris, Jehan le Clerc, 1585. Folio. 34 leaves. Later red half-morocco, gilt-tooled flat spine, morocco label on the upper board with the gilt inscription "Abrégé de l'Histoire de France". First Edition of this magnificent volume, composed of sixty-four portraits of the kings of France (one per page), inserted in medallion and framed by beautiful wood-engraved borders with characters, animals, flowering branches, grotesques, fauna, masks, etc. The oval frame in which the portraits are inserted are surrounded by allegorical figures, loves, soldiers, satyrs, goddesses, with below a summary historical text. The work ends with chronological tables of the kings of the France and the privilege, after which was inserted later (after 1594) an identically printed folio bearing the portrait of Henry IV. Brun says of the ornamentation of these borders that it is of supreme elegance. Small loss in the blank part of the title page. Nice copy. Brunet, I, 14 describes the edition of 1596 which he declares rare… Read More

A Paris, chez Anisson, Directeur de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1702. 4to. 6 leaves. 109 pages. 1 leaf. Full brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated (contemporary binding, upper hinge cracked, upper boards stained, old handwritten label on first board). Original Edition of this tragedy, which was performed before Louis XIV by the girls of the Saint-Cyr boarding school, designed to provide an education for young ladies from poor noble families. Joseph François Duché de Vancy (1668-1704) was raised in close proximity to the royal court, where his father was Gentleman Ordinary of the King's Court. From his twentieth year, he achieved great success on the lyric stage, presenting ballets and operas at the Château de Marly and the Château de Versailles. Having attracted the attention of the king's mistress Madame de Maintenon, he was entrusted by the Maison de Saint-Cyr with the production of sacred poems, edifying histories and religious tragedies such as the tragedy "Absalon", for which he was awarded a… Read More

Aux Dépens de l'Académie. A Paris, chés De Lormel, Imprimeur de ladite Académie, rue du Foin, à l'Image Sainte-Geneviève. On trouvera des Exemplaires du Poème à la Salle de l'Opéra. 1771. 4to. 62 pages (1 blank leaf). Full red morocco, gilt lace around the boards, gilt fleur-de-lys in the corners and coat of arms of Madame Elisabeth in the center of the boards (contemporary binding). The first "tragedy in music" inspired, at Louis XIV's request, by a novel of chivalry ("Amadis de Gaule" by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo) rather than mythological themes, "Amadis" is one of Lully's most popular compositions, as evidenced by the number of performances given from 1684 to the present day. Perhaps more than any of his other works, it represents the glorification of absolute monarchy on stage. "Like Lully's earlier lyric tragedies, Amadis is intended to reinforce the image of the King. But it brings two significant inflections to the genre. Instead of ancient myths, it draws its inspiration from… Read More

A Hambourg, et à Paris, chez les Marchands de Nouveautés, s.d. (c. 1808). 2 volumes 12mo. 2 leaves. 236 pages. 6 original drawings and 2 leaves. 236 pages. 6 original drawings. Full long-grain blue morocco, finely decorated ribbed spines, gilt roulette around the boards, decorated inner edges and spines, salmon-colored moire endpapers (binding from the second half of the 19th century). First Edition of the second pornographic novel written and published by a woman in French, preceded only by "Julie, ou j'ai sauvé ma Rose" by the same author, published the previous year. This work, of which there are two known editions with the same pagination (one dated, the other undated, as in this case), was placed on the index by the police in 1825. It caused a scandal not only because of its pornographic nature, but also - and above all - because it was written by a woman. The literary critic Girault de Saint-Fargeau mentioned it in 1839, evoking the "pity and disgust" he felt for "such pictures depicted by a… Read More