Paul et Virginie.

BERNARDIN de SAINT-PIERRE Jacques-Henri. Paul et Virginie.
Paris, P. Didot l'aîné, 1806.

Large In-4 (330 x 254 mm): [5] ff, XCII-194 pp, [6] ff. Full red morocco, gilt framing border on covers with floral design at corners, arms in centre, spine with very richly decorated raised bands with a green mosaic circle in the centre, then decorated with floral designs and a semé of gilt dotted lines, gilt author, title, place of publication and date, gilt fillet on edges and fluting on corners and headpieces, gilt inner border (contemporary binding).

The most luxurious edition of Paul et Virginie, the last to appear in the author's lifetime, giving the text in its definitive version with a substantial 92-page preface.

A choice copy printed on wove paper, with its sumptuously bound binding and engravings still perfectly inked. All the engravings are in two states, before and after the letter, with the exception of the Passage du Torrent (p. 32-33), which is in three states, in pure etching, before and after the letter. 

‘Remarkable for the two engravings by Moreau [Les Adieux] and Prudhon’ (Carteret), “especially the dramatic figure of the Naufrage de Virginie by Prudhon make this volume very interesting” (Cohen).

Our book is enriched by a very rare autograph letter signed by the author to Anton von Klein (1744-1810), professor, collector, writer and publisher: ‘to Chevalier de Klein, author of the Gallery of Illustrious Germans, his friend’.

A buyer's slip dated 19 December 1903 is also attached (Maurice Delestre, auctioneer). The present work was acquired at the sale of the library of Robert Abdy, 5th Baron of the Baronnet d'Albyns, in 1975. 

Carteret, III, 529 ; Cohen, 933.