Collectif - Lot 19

Collectif Collection des classiques françois. Paris, Jules Didot et Lefèvre, 1824/1828. Very handsome set of 67 large in-8° volumes, uniform slightly later bindings, 1840/1860, signed Capé. Red half-maroquin with corners, spines highly decorated with gilded motifs and pearlized irons, gilded heads. Untrimmed copy. Some slight wear. Good condition. Boileau 1824; 4 vols. Bossuet 1825 ; 3 vols. Corneille 1824 12 vols. Crébillon 1828 ; 2 vols. Fénelon 1828 ; 3 vols. Fléchier 1826 ; 1 vol. La Bruyère 1824 ; 2 vol. La Fontaine 1824/1827 ; 8 vol. La Rochefoucauld 1827 1 vol. Le Sage 1825 ; 3 vols. Malherbe 1825; 2 vols. Massillon 1824 ; 1 vol. Montaigne 1826 ; 5 vols. Montesquieu 1826 ; 8 vol. Parny 1827 1 vol. Pascal 1826 ; 2 vols. Racine 1825 ; 7 vols. Rousseau 1824 2 vols. The works of Molière are missing to complete the series. Printed on strong vellum with full margins, very white paper, very little spotting throughout the text sections. Some of the added engravings are occasionally scorched. A unique copy enriched with over 1,500 documents, portraits, suites of illustrations before the letter, with letter, prints from different periods and all kinds of editions, small drawings, a wash in volume 1 of Racine. A handwritten pencil table at the beginning of each first volume indicates the documents added. In the case of La Fontaine, for example, 480 additional items are listed. Each volume contains the bookplate of Emmanuel Martin with his motto "absque labor nihil" (without work nothing); the vignette depicts an angel at his work table surrounded by books. This collection was built up over several years by Emmanuel Martin (1821 -1882); it is described in the catalog of his sale in February 1877 at no. 604. At that date, in the digitized catalog, the series was complete with 75 volumes, including the 8 volumes of Molière. In this 6-day, 823-issue sale, the series fetched the very high price of 12900 francs, by far the highest bid of the sale.