ALEMBERT, Jean Le Rond d'. Histoire des membres de l'Académi - Lot 3

ALEMBERT, Jean Le Rond d'. Histoire des membres de l'Académie françoise, morts en 1700 jusqu'en 1771, pour servir de suite aux Éloges imprimés & lus dans les Séances publiques de cette Compagnie. Published in Paris by Panckoucke and Moutard between 1779 and 1787. In 6 volumes, format In douze / In-12 (164 x 95 mm). Mahogany spotted calf, engine-turned ribbed spine, crimson morocco title-piece, double filleted boards with gilt pomegranate tooling, cold filleting on boards, gilt filleting on edges, red edges. XXXIV (preface), VI (warning), 559 pages, 2 ff.n.ch. ; 2 ff.n.ch., XII, 437 pages ; 2 ff.n.ch., 523 pages ; 2 ff.n.ch., 637 pages ; 2 ff.n.ch., 668 pages ; 2 ff.n.ch., 378 pages. Bindings generally rubbed, a few wormholes in the margins of the boards, some minor rough restorations, covers worn. First collective edition. Appointed perpetual secretary of the Académie française in 1772, a post he held until his death in 1783, d'Alembert undertook to compile, transcribe and publish the eulogies of the members of this same Académie who had sat between 1700 and 1771, from Jean-Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742) to Louis de Bourbon-Condé, comte de Clermont (1709-1771), thus continuing the work undertaken by his predecessor, Charles Pinot Duclos. The first volume of this vast undertaking was published in 1779, while the other five were published posthumously, in 1787, by Condorcet, whom d'Alembert had declared his sole heir. Our copies, bound in the uniform style, bear witness to this time lapse between the publication of the two parts of Les Éloges: the first volume is indeed the original 1779 edition, and the other five the 1787 edition. Fairly fresh copies, despite their worn bindings.