432 - FOUR 17TH-CENTURY VOLUMES IN 16° FORMAT IN FRENCH: 1) *LE THEATRE DE M. QUINAULT*, published in Amsterdam in 1704. A work in 2 volumes. These volumes contain Antoine Schelte’s 1697 editions. This 1704 edition is a classic “refreshed title page” (in French, titre de relais). In fact, it is not a new printing of the texts, but rather a literary marketing strategy of the 18th century. In 1697, Antoine Schelte printed a very large run of Philippe Quinault’s individual comedies and tragedies, selling them both separately and in collected volumes. However, the Dutch and European markets became saturated, and many copies remained unsold in warehouses in the form of loose sheets (not yet bound). Antoine Schelte died shortly thereafter, around 1698. His printing house closed, and his heirs put the remaining stock up for sale to raise cash. David Mortier, a prominent bookseller and publisher with strong commercial ties between Amsterdam and London, purchased this stock of printed sheets in bulk in 1697. In 1704, Mortier decided it was time to put that stock back on the market. To make it appear like a new and up-to-date book to customers of the time, Mortier removed Schelte’s old general title page from 1697 and printed a new general title page in his own name (“Chez David Mortier, 1704”). He bound together the original 1697 interior sheets by Schelte, keeping the individual works intact with their dates and the splendid original late-17th-century engravings. This detail adds to the charm of his volumes. It demonstrates that the text and engravings he possesses are, to all intents and purposes, those of Schelte’s prized 1697 edition (often printed with superior typefaces and on fresher-quality paper), but marketed in Mortier’s 1704 edition. Contemporary half-leather bindings with marbled covers and titles embossed in gold on the spine label. Gold-embossed decorative motifs on the spine. Sprinkled edges. 10 full-page engravings (5 per volume) in addition to engraved headpieces, tailpieces, and initials. Pages slightly trimmed. A rare work to find. 2) LE THEATRE DE M. QUINAULT, published in Amsterdam in 1715. The discovery of a variant dated 1715, printed in Amsterdam by David Mortier (or marketed around the same time by other Dutch publishers such as Pierre de Coup), which states that it contains the texts “Suivant la copie imprimée à Paris, 1708,” reveals one of the most competitive dynamics in the history of European publishing: high-end Dutch piracy based on Parisian reference editions. The 1715 edition of *Le Théâtre de Mr. Quinault* represents one of the most important bibliographic milestones for this author’s works. In 18th-century Europe, Dutch printers (such as Mortier) were not subject to the copyright laws (Privilège du Roi) that protected French publishers in Paris. When a Parisian publisher released a text deemed excellent (such as the 1708 Paris edition of Philippe Quinault’s individual works, revised and corrected), booksellers in Amsterdam would purchase it immediately. They used it as a master copy to reprint it illegally in the Netherlands, inserting the phrase “Suivant la copie imprimée à Paris, 1708” (“According to the copy printed in Paris in 1708”) on the individual title pages. For buyers of the time, this statement served as a guarantee of textual accuracy: it meant that the book, despite being printed in Amsterdam, offered the purest, most up-to-date text, free of the typographical errors typical of older 17th-century pirated editions. This work is historically essential for collectors of Baroque theater. Contemporary half-leather bindings with marbled covers and titles embossed in gold on the spine. Gold-embossed decorative motifs on the spine. Sprayed edges. 10 full-page engravings (5 per volume) in addition to engraved headpieces, tailpieces, and initials. Pages slightly trimmed. A rare work to find.