Lafitte, Louis ; Prudhon, Pierre-Paul ; Bourgeois de la Richardière, Antoine-Achille

BERNARDIN de SAINT-PIERRE, Henri Paul et Virginie. Paris de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné 1806 In-4° : portrait-[4]-xcii-194-[8] pp.; 6 h.-t. Red long-grained morocco, boards framed in gilt and embellished with coats of arms, spine with false ribbed bands decorated with star-shaped floral motifs with a green mosaic circle in the center on a semé of gilt dots, gilt titles, gilt fillets on the edges and fluting near the corners and on the headpieces, gilt floral fillings (lower spine weakened, small scratches and rubbing). Beautiful binding and fresh engravings. Illustrated with a portrait engraved by Ribault after Lafitte and 6 hors-texte after Gérard, Girodet, Isabey, Laffite, Moreau and Prudhon, engraved by Bourgeois de la Richardière, Bovinet, Mecou, Pillement fils, Prot and Roger. The portrait is in a double edition, the engravings are in two states (before and after the letter); the "Passage du Torrent" plate is in three states (pure etching, before and after the letter). Our ex. therefore contains 15 plates. Ref. Cohen 933 ("The figures are very beautiful. The touching composition by Moreau and especially the dramatic figure of the Naufrage de Virginie by Prudhon make this volume very interesting [...]"). Prov. aut. s. from Bernardin de Saint Pierre "to Chevalier de Klein, author of the galerie des illustres Germains [...]". Anton von Klein (1744-1810) was a teacher, writer, publisher and collector. In 1776, he was appointed intimate advisor to the Elector. After the Peace of Lunéville, he spent 9 months in Paris in 1806, a trip he used to establish literary relations between Germany and France. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's letter is dated 1806, and it was in the same year that Klein published his Galerie des illustres Germains, also published by Didot - Sir Abdy, this book was part of the first sale of his library in 1975 under no. 298 (supra libros).