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12mo. Two works in one vol. Ad 1: xxxviii, 86 pp. (printed in green) + xxii, 88 pp. (printed in red). Contemporary French marbled calf, comb-marbled pastedowns and endpapers, smooth spine attractively gilt, brown morocco lettering piece, red edges (small leather repair on lower cover). Title-page of the first work a little faded; an excellent copy. DESCRIBED BY SCHOLARS AS "A SUMMIT OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TECHNICAL INNOVATION" AND "A FIRST IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK; HITHERTO PUBLISHING HAD KNOWN LITTLE MORE THAN BLACK AND RED, ESPECIALLY FOR TITLE-PAGES AND LITURGICAL WORKS." Rebecca Short explains: "These works, each of which was mechanically printed entirely in colored ink, represent a summit of eighteenth-century technical innovation. The sheer effusion of color onto the pages of the texts has, therefore, long fascinated book historians and collectors. In their materiality, the books point towards the success Caraccioli enjoyed in his early career; to produce them would have required a significant financial investment, and demonstrates firm market confidence. Moreover, the correspondence of the works' form to their content suggests a high degree of authorial agency in the publishing process. [.] The striking appearance of each of the books exemplifies the eighteenth-century fashion for the frivolous which saw both the proliferation of an extravagant rococo aesthetic in the fine and decorative arts, and the theorizing of ephemerality in literature and philosophy. In their form, the colored books are ornamental -- they are intended for viewing and for display as much as they are for reading. In their content, they describe Caraccioli's contemporary society. The pastimes of frivolous dames and petit-maitres are described at length." Espousing the frivolities of fashion, these two typographical curiosities satirize the pretensions of mid-18th century French culture. The author exclaims that "For too long books announce themselves in a gloomy form. Should a century as pretty as ours write in black characters that depict catafalques and funerals? [.] Printers should have imitated porcelain-makers from long ago, and they would have succeeded. What lady would have refused to buy a book that was the color of her fan, or her parrot?" Our copy is distinguished by containing both "Livres a la mode." NB: These are not separate editions of the same text but in fact are completely different works altogether. The first one to appear was printed in green, the second in red (here bound out of order). The dedicatees are, respectively, the "Messeigneurs les petits-maitres et mesdames les petites-maitresses" and "Messieurs et dames a vapeurs." Following the whims of fashion, the author claims that he produced the second volume out of necessity: "Because the color green lasted only eight days, as have all fashions, I offer you the most beautiful of vermillons, as it finally shines on your magnificently and furiously illuminated faces." The work is attributed to the prolific Marquis de Caraccioli (1719-1803), who published his four-color "Livre des quatre couleurs" in 1760. There are considerable bibliographic complexities regarding the 8vo and 12mo editions of these works; these have been addressed by Didier Travier in "Louis-Antoine Caraccioli ou les amusements typographiques d un moraliste mondain" (L'ecrivain et l'imprimeur, 2010). It is our understanding that in the present volume the first work belongs to the second 12mo edition, and the second work belongs to the first 12mo edition, both published in the same year as the first 8vo (1759). PROVENANCE: monogram ink stamp forming all the letters in the name of the owner [A.C.E.I.M.R.V.],in green opposite title-page: Nunc Nox Mox Lux ("Now night, soon light"). This is the little known monogram of Charles-François Maurice: (1817-1869), wealthy French bibliophile and tireless researcher of fine arts and heraldry. "He applied [the above] motto the true role of the book, which is to bring light to.
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