Paris, Charles Froment, 1829.
Small 8vo [169 x 103 mm] of viii pp., 214 pp., (1) l., 36 colored plates out of pagination and protected with silky-papers.
Raspberry glazed calf, gilt fillet and blind-stamped decorations on the covers, diamond-shape large central medallion, spine ribbed and decorated, inner gilt border, gilt edges. (Thouvenin).
First edition of this superb work illustrated with 36 copper-engravings out of pagination hand-painted with a brush at the time, some enhanced with gold.
Carteret, 37 ; Colas, n° 159.
Remarkable illustration on theatre costumes.
These engravings by Foech de Basle and Whirsker, executed from life, represent the full-length actors in the roles in which they excelled.
At the beginning of the work are placed the full-length portraits of “the greatest poet and the greatest actor of the time”, Voltaire and Lekain, represented rehearsing a scene of Mahomet.
All the illustrations are by Foech.
“Engraved from gouaches of the smallest proportion, they are nevertheless of the most singular resemblance. Wirsker, author of these gouaches, reproduced there with the most spiritual exactitude the physiognomy, the demeanor, the character of the originals, in the roles in which they excelled, and in the situations in which they excited the most enthusiasm. My engravings are a faithful copy. “(Foech).
Very beautiful copy preserved in its elegant romantic blind-stamped binding by Thouvenin.
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