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ALDE

126 - BERNARD (Pierre-Joseph). Œuvres. Paris, P. Didot l'Aîné, 179…
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Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
Sale commission
Description
BERNARD (Pierre-Joseph). Œuvres. Paris, P. Didot l'Aîné, 1797. Large in-4, bradel paper-covered boards with pink glue, smooth spine, handwritten title, untrimmed, tan morocco slipcase stamped with a gilt heraldic iron (Rivière & Son). Superb edition illustrated by Pierre Paul Prud'hon. It is adorned with an original etching by Prud'hon for Phrosine et Mélidore - a true artistic curiosity popularised by black novels, it is "the only engraving that the master undeniably made" (Cohen) - and three etchings interpreted from his drawings by Beisson and Copia for L'Art d'aimer. One of 150 copies on Angoulême heavyweight vellum with the figures before the letter, the only ones containing the opera of Castor et Pollux, "which was not included with the rest of the edition" (Cohen). Born in Grenoble, Pierre-Joseph Bernard (1708-1775), nicknamed le Gentil-Bernard by Voltaire, was a member of the Société du Caveau, a famous Parisian goguette. He was encouraged and helped by Helvétius and triumphed in 1737 with the performance of his opera Castor et Pollux, imitated from Quinault and dedicated to Madame de Pompadour, for which Rameau had composed the music. Untrimmed copy in its first hardback. From the Robert Abdy library (1995, III, no. 17), with his heraldic emblem on the slipcase. Minor restorations to the spine of the hardback, some foxing. Cohen, 133-134 and Suppl, 1085 - Sander, 124.
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About the sale Antiquarian books from the 15th to the 19th century - Astronomy
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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