David Ferrand Attributed (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. Full period calf. Small octavo. xxx, 524pp. A curious collection of poetry dedicated to the following subjects: encounters, games, love and serious subjects. The game section has much on chess, billiards, dice and other pastimes. This work has been attributed to the satirical poet David Ferrand and to Dutuit, lawyer for the Parliament of Normandy. The binding is worn with some scuffing and heavy edgewear to the covers and some dryness to the spine and chipping to the spine tips. The text is good with some scattered spotting and soiling and some light staining to a few margins. The title page is loose and chipped at the left side. There is some early ink writing to the inside cover and rear endsheet. This copy has no front flyleaves. Scarce.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Exceedingly scarce in the trade, there being only two additional copies available on-line currently. A perfectly serviceable reference copy of one of the oddest items ever to be held in my hands; nothing fancy, but complete and still pretty sturdy. In apparent First Edition state, with no additional printing states listed. Bound in full period calf-leather in a short octavo format measuring 6 3/4" x 4" tall and wide, respectively. Binding is worn and scuffed a bit and with some but not a lot of stress to joints; front upper is lightly cracked. Spine is a bit dry, tips are bruised a bit and scuffed, paste-down is a bit spotted and with scattered ink marks, else the item stands easily on its own on the shelf. The Table of Contents shows: Title, Epistre (4 sheets), Avertissement and Privilege (4 sheets), Tables (3 sheets), Portrait de l'auteur a sa maitresse (4 sheets). Five chapters follow, to wit: Entretiens, Jeux, Amours, Galanteries, Pieces serieuses. Les Veritez Plaisantes ou le Monde au Naturel is entirely in French. It features finely engraved black-and-white heads and tails and sports lovely initials. There are five raised bands, and it's red-stained all around. There are five fleurs-de-lis stamped in gilt finely to spine, short title stamped sharply into burgundy leather in one compartment. The satirical poet David Ferrand is credited with this work, but so was a lawyer for the Parliament of Normandy, Dutuit, according to a penciled note inside rear board. The note is trustworthy, coming from the book scout and bibliographer, erotophile and literary sleuth, Gershon Legman, as conveyed to me by his fabulous widow, Judith Legman. In addition, in the fourth volume of Barbier's Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes (Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Works), at p. 945 in a footnote, is the attribution of these Pleasant Verses to an avocat in the Normandy Parliament "by the name of Dutuit" (translated via Google Translate). That bibliographer, Antoine-Alexandre Barbier (Jan. 11, 1765 - Dec. 5, 1825) was a French librarian and bibliographer whose abovementioned work "helped to preserve scholarly books and manuscripts during and after the French Revolution" (Encyclopedia Britannica, on-line entry). Of his many accomplishments were that, in 1794, he was temporarily commissioned to distribute back to various libraries of Paris the books and manuscripts that had been confiscated during the French Revolution. Then he set his sights to preserve works in the arts and sciences, including the letters of "Pierre-Daniel Huet, bishop of Avranches, and, more important, the manuscripts of the works of François Fénelon, the celebrated 17th-century author and theologian." Then released from his Catholic Church orders, being obsessed more with books than with thoughts of the Afterlife, Barbier "became librarian successively to the Directory, to the Conseil d?État, and, in 1807, to Napoleon, for whom he also researched scholarly answers to political and religious problems" (Encyclopedia Britannica). All in, a nice exemplar of a scare tome. [xxxii], 2-524 pp.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.