RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas).

RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas).

Les Contemporaines ou Avantures des plus jolies femmes de l'âge présent: Recueillies par N.-E. R** D*-L*-B*; et publiées par Timothée Joly, de Lyon, dépositaire de ses manuscrits. Second edition. Printed in Leïpsick, by Büschel, marchand-libraire; and found in Paris, chés la dame Ve Duchesne, libraire, rue Saintjacques, au Temple-du-Goût, 1781-1792. 42 volumes divided into 3 series: - Les Contemporaines ou Avantures des plus jolies femmes de l'âge présent [...] 1781-1784. 17 vols. 115 plates. - Les Contemporaines du Commun [...] 1784-1792. 13 vols. 85 plates, including 3 fold-outs. - Les Contemporaines par Gradation [...] 1783-1785. 12 vols. 83 plates. This last series, in its original edition, was never reprinted, either as a second edition or as a counterfeit (Jacob-Lacroix confirmed by Cubières-Palmezeaux). It is also the rarest and most curious. Some of the figures are said to be by Restif himself. This third series was sold separately, like the previous two. "The numbering of the volumes starts again from the XXXIst in the collection: First and thirty-first volume and continues in this way until volume XLII, twelfth and forty-second volume. Not all the engravings in this third series are by BINET. There are many reasons for the rarity of this third and last suite of Contemporaines: the figures and especially the double plates were much sought-after by milliners and artists of feminine toilette, not only in France, but also abroad, where Restif was considered the sovereign arbiter of French fashion. The last four volumes are the rarest, especially those containing the women of the small theaters". Paul Lacroix, bibliophile Jacob, Bibliographie et iconographie de Restif de la Bretonne, 1875. 42 volumes in-12, red half-chagrin, five-ribbed spine, gilded title and tomaison, gilded heads (post. mid-19th c. binding). ""This second edition [of the first and second series of Contemporaines], rarer than the first, is moreover very important for the corrections and additions the author has made to the text, as well as for the additional pieces added at the end of the volumes"" Lacroix. Complete with 283 plates, including 10 fold-outs. This set does not include the 16 pp. of chansons badines from volume 29, second series, which are still missing. Very rare set. A fine copy. (Lacroix/Jacob 162-197; Rives Childs 256-276.)