Aristée ou de la divinité … 1779

Aristée ou de la divinité. — A Paris MDCCLXXIX [Harlem or Den Haag, no printer, 1779].

First edition

8vo (168x 98 mm). X, 208 pp. Rare issue with engravings in brown ink; most copies have the engravings printed in black. Of the eight copies decribed by Stoddard only one has this particularity. With the often lacking blank leaf *1.

Contemporary green morocco, bound by Christiaan Micke – with Thomas van Os the finest bookbinder of his day. See Jan Storm van Leeuwen, Der achttiende-eeuwse Haagse boekband …, The Hague 1976, pp. 399ff., rol V (on both covers) and stamp 70 (on spine). Light discoloration on upper board, see photo.

Provenance:

1.) Naville, Ernest (1816-1909) lectured history of philosophy in Geneva; was close to French spiritualism; edited “Oeuvres inédites de Maine de Biran” in three volumes. See: Albert Schinz, Considerations sur la philosophie de M. Ernest Naville d’après son dernier livre “La definition de la philosophie” (1895); Violette Smith-Orlemann, Die Philosophie Ernest Navilles und seine Stellung zum französischen Spiritualismus. 2012.

2.) Féderic Raisin (1851-1923) of Geneva, bibliophile, collector of exlibris, author and judge. The present bookplate, showing the centaur Cheiron, was made by Evert Louis van Muyden (1853-1923), the noted engraver, illustrator and painter, who spent part of his life in Geneva.

R. Stoddard, François Hemsterhuis, no. 9, in: The Book Collector, vol. 50 no. 2, London 2001.