Albert of Saxe-Teschen's copy
La Gerusalemme liberata. Seconda edizione, coi rami della edizione di Monsieur.
4to (300 x 220 mm). 2 vols. (4), 331 pp. (4), 334 pp. With 1 frontispiece and 40 plates by Cochin, engraved by Dambrun, de Launay, Delignon, Duclos, Lingée, Patas, Ponce, Prévost, Saint Aubin, Simonet, Tillard, Trière and Varin. Red half morocco, smooth spine divided into six panels by a metope and pentaglyph and bead rule, lettered on green overlays in the second, volume number within an oval in the fourth, the others tooled with corner pieces and monogram AS within a sunburst.
€ 7,500.00
The wonderful illustrations are among Cochin's late works and at the same time the quintessence of the Louis XVI style in book illustration. Cochin's designs, commissioned by the Comte de Provence (later Louis XVIII), were rewarded with the enormous sum of 40,000 livres. Like the first edition, this second one was reportedly printed in only 200 copies on heavy vellum paper.
The elegant binding, although unsigned, is undoubtedly to be attributed to Georg Friedrich Krauss (active 1791-1824). He was the most prominent Viennese bookbinder of his time, and the Duke of Saxe-Teschen his most important client (cf. Breslauer, cat. 110, no. 167; Otto Schäfer catalogue of bookbindings, p. 161f.).
Corners slightly scuffed. Scattered foxing, quire 42 of the 1st volume, and quires 37, 39 and 40 of the 2nd volume browned, else fine. Provenance: Albert Casimir August of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (1738-1822), with his monogram on the spine of the binding and his distinctive shelf ticket on front pastedown.
Sander 1891. Fürstenberg 88f. and passim. Cohen 977.
