232 - [MONTESQUIEU].

[MONTESQUIEU]. The Temple of Gnide. New edition with engravings by N. Le Mire…based on drawings by Ch. Eisen. Paris: Le Mire, engraver, 1772. Large 8vo, (3)-VII-104 pp., on thick laid paper, with wide margins. 18th-century red morocco, smooth spine decorated with gilded floral panels, green morocco title label, gilded title, wide lace border with small ironwork on each cover featuring a large central motif of arabesques and volutes, blue tabis endpapers, gilt edges, gilded fillet on the edges (binding possibly restored, a few minor foxing spots). Description: A fine copy bound in a superb, ornate morocco leather binding of the period. A beautiful 18th-century work, entirely engraved on copper in black. The text is by the calligrapher-engraver Drouët, and the nine large illustrations, based on drawings by Charles Eisen, are by Le Mire. Beautiful title page and allegorical portrait of Montesquieu in a medallion on the frontispiece. The volume includes the text *Céphise et l’Amour*, also by Montesquieu, pp. 99–104. “An edition of ravishing execution, both in composition and engraving” (Cohen, 726). Devauchelle, II, 220.