221 - CUROSIA.

CUROSIA. FAVRE (Abbé de). Les Quatre Heures de la Toilette des Dames, an erotic poem in four cantos… Paris, Jean-François Bastien, 1779. In-8, (6) leaves, including an engraved title page, 84 pp., 4 plates. 19th-century burgundy morocco, ribbed spine, author, title, and date gilt, richly decorated panels, double gilt line on the headbands and footbands, triple gilt line framing the covers, gilt scrolls and lines on the fillets, gilt edges [Pouillet] (paper very slightly oxidized). Bibliography: Cohen, 376–377. Description: First edition. The illustrations consist of a frontispiece title page, a vignette at the head of the dedication, 4 loose plates, and 4 large end-piece plates; all etched after Leclerc by Arrivet, Halbou, Le Roy, Louis Le Grand, and Patas. This edition is notable for its superb end-piece illustrations, as described by Cohen, particularly “the one in the third canto, which is said to depict the Princess of Lamballe wearing a headdress of feathers; it is especially intriguing because of this lady’s tragic end.” (in retrospect). She was the dedicatee of the work. A copy on fine, heavily laid paper in an elegant morocco binding signed by Pouillet.