FONTENELLE (Bernard le Bouvier de). Miscellaneous works. - Lot 143

FONTENELLE (Bernard le Bouvier de). Miscellaneous works. Beautiful first edition illustrated with superb compositions and ornaments by Bernard Picart. La Haye, Gosse & Neaulme, 1728 and 1729. 3 large volumes in-4, brown basane, ribbed spines decorated with richly gilded boxes, boards decorated with cold-framed fillets, edges adorned with a gilded double-filet, interior roulette, all edges red. Fx-t, t., 4 ff.n.ch., 376 pp. ; fx-t, t., 3 ff.n.ch., 440 pp. ; fx-t, t., 1 ff.n.ch., 434 pp. 6 engraved plates, title pages in black and red. Spines damaged with missing headpieces, minor loss of gilding, restoration at foot of first volume. Staining on the flyleaf and the first three leaves of the third volume. Very fine edition of these works by Fontenelle, illustrated with a frontispiece featuring a portrait of the author after Rigaud, 5 fine plates and 174 remarkable grotesque vignettes and culs-de-lampe, all engraved by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), an important engraver and draftsman. This edition contains major works by Bernard le Bouvier de Fontenelle, including "Dialogues des morts", "Entretien sur la pluralité des mondes" and "Histoire des Oracles". A very good copy in contemporary binding. [Tchémerzine V 332 | Cohen 217].