La Reliure, Poème didactique en Six Chants

3 p.l., 382 pp. (pp. 377-78 misbound), one leaf. 8vo, cont. polished green calf, signed at foot of spine "Relié par l’Auteur," double gilt fillet frame round sides, floral devices in each corner, spine richly gilt, rose colored endpapers, a.e.g. Paris: chez l’Auteur, J. Renouard, 1827. Second edition, one of 125 copies printed on "vélin grand-raisin" (this copy numbered in gold "39"), of an extraordinary bookbinding craft manual in the form of a long poem in heroic couplets, with extensive historical and technical notes in prose. Several additional texts appear in this edition, including Lettre d’un Relieur français à un bibliographe anglais, Epître à Thouvenin, and Epître à Simier père. Lesné (1777-1841), was himself an amateur binder of considerable merit, but his fame rests on this vigorous defense of French binding against Dibdin’s criticisms. A very fine copy which was displayed at the exhibition Relieurs et Reliures décorées en France à l’Époque romantique (Brussels: 1995), no. 128 with illustration. Bookplate of Michel Wittock. ? Breslauer, The Uses of Bookbinding Literature, pp. 12-13. Culot, Le Décor néo-classique, pp. 131-32 (no. 6). …