[HENRI IV]. Description of the new statue of Henri IV with a - Lot 70

[HENRI IV]. Description of the new statue of Henri IV with a facsimile of this good king. Paris, Chez Lamy, 1819, in-8°, paperback, cover. Collation: 1 f. blc, 1 f. faux-titre, frontispiece, 1 f. title, 7 pp. text ch. 3 to 9, 1 facsimile letter. Unknown in specialized bibliographies. Work of sculptor François-Frédéric Lamot (1771-1827), the 1818 royal statue of Henri IV replaces the plaster statue erected temporarily for Louis XVIII's entry into Paris on May 3, 1814, whose plinth bore an engraved inscription, The inscription on the plinth read "Le retour de Louis fait revivre Henri" ("The return of Louis brings Henri back to life"), perhaps a reminder of the destruction by revolutionaries in 1792 of the first statue, commissioned from Florentine artist Pietro Tacca (1577-1640) on the initiative of Marie de Médicis and inaugurated after the king's death in 1614. The statue was unveiled on August 25, 1818, Saint Louis Day. Several objects were placed inside the statue: parchment documents relating to the inauguration of the monuments, twenty-six medals and three books on Henri IV, including Voltaire's La Henriade (1694-1778) and Hardouin de Péréfixe's Henri IV (1606-1671). On the frontispiece, a plate showing the new statue of Henri IV, on the title page, a vignette representing the medal given by Henri IV to the forty-two Swiss ambassadors, and a facsimile of a letter from Henri IV to the Countess de Guiche. Original paper loss in lower margin of p. 7. Some foxing. Dimensions : 210 x 132 mm.