MOLIERE.
Œuvres, avec des remarques grammaticales, des avertissemens et des observations sur chaque pièce, par M. Bret. Paris, la compagnie des libraires associés, 1773. 6 volumes in-8, fawn calf, triple gilt fillet, smooth spine decorated, green title and red tomaison, inner lace, gilt edges (Period binding). First edition published by Antoine Bret, sumptuously illustrated by Moreau le Jeune.
Published one hundred years after the death of the playwright, it was based on the 1734 edition, enriched with Bret's annotations and his supplement to the Vie de Molière by Voltaire.
The illustration, in the first edition, consists of a portrait of Molière engraved by Cathelin after Mignard and 31 (out of 33) out-of-text figures and 6 title vignettes by Moreau le Jeune, engraved in intaglio by Baquoy, de Launay, Duclos, Masquelier, Née and others. Jean-Michel Moreau's illustrations made him famous at the age of thirty-two. Witty and lively, they wonderfully convey Molière's thoughts.
A very fine and remarkably preserved copy.
The first volume is complete with the cartoons on pp. 66-67 and 80-81.
Cohen, 716-717 - Ray, n°50 - Tchemerzine, IV, 828 - Lacroix, n°347.
Incomplete with 2 figures (those of the
Misanthrope and the
Bourgeois gentilhomme).
