VOLTAIRE. La Pucelle d'Orléans, poem in twenty-one songs. [D - Lot 59

VOLTAIRE. La Pucelle d'Orléans, poem in twenty-one songs. [De l'imprimerie de la Société littéraire et typographique (Kehl)], 1786, 2 vol. gr. in-8°, long-grained red morocco, gilt fillet and cold roulette around the boards setting two gilt plates, one stamped in the center, ornate ribbed spines, inner border decorated with a large gilt roulette, lining and endpapers of cream moiré silk set with a gilt roulette, gilt edges (Thouvenin). Collation : T. I. : 1 f. title pp. [1-2], Avertissement des éditeurs pp. 3-12, Préface pp. 13-20, Chant premier à onzième pp. 21-213, Table des chants & arguments pp. [214]-215, 2 portraits and 11 figures ; T. II. : 1 f. title pp. [1-2], Chant douzième à vingt-et-unième pp. 3-192, Tables des chants & arguments pp. [193]-195, 2 portraits and 10 figures. Luxurious edition of La Pucelle d'Orléans, a heroic poem in twenty-one songs, from the famous Kehl press, founded by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) with the ambition of publishing the complete works of Voltaire (1694-1778) free from French royal censorship. One frontispiece, two portraits, 21 plates out of text by Jean-Michel Moreau, known as Moreau le Jeune (1741-1814). A collection of 31 original drawings by the same artist for La Pucelle is known, but was not retained; it belonged successively to Mahérault, Beraldi and Esmerian. It was recently offered at auction. One of the very few copies printed on vellum. Van Praet lists five. Bound by J. Thouvenin (1790-1834), it comprises : - a suite of 23 figures after Desenne, avant la lettre, on chine appliqué, including two portraits. They replace those by Moreau; - a portrait of Voltaire by Ficquet after La Tour (T. I) ; - a portrait of Joan of Arc, engraved by Marcenay (T. II), in 2 states, including one before the letter, this one bound at the end of the first volume; - a handwritten bill signed by Voltaire. Joseph Thouvenin bound a copy of La Henriade from 1819 with the same "cathedral" plates used for our two volumes. This Henriade is described with photo under number 45 of Paul Culot's book, Relieurs et reliures décorées en France à l'époque romantique. He was active from 1813 until his death in 1834. His clientele included many bibliophiles, among them Charles Nodier and Armand Bertin. Dimensions: 242 x 167 mm. Provenance: Sir Abdy (Cat. I, 1975, no. 346). Bengesco, I, no. 508 (our edition, dated 1784 and 1785 for the current edition in one vol. in-8°, and 1786 for the vellum copies in 2 vol. in-8°) and IV, no. 2142 (for the Kehl edition, 1784 & 1785-1789); Cohen, II, p. 1110 ("The very rare known copies of La Pucelle... on vellum skin, with the Kehl address, are not from the in-4° edition (1789) but from the 1785 edition, in-8° format"); Van Praet, Catalogue des livres imprimés sur vélin..., VI, p. 98, no. 288 and p. 165, no. 288; Portalis (R.), Les Dessinateurs d'illustrations au dix-huitième siècle, pp. 442, 451 & 464.