Le Paradis Perdu, poëme par Milton; Édition en Anglais et en Français, Ornée de douze Estampes imprimées en couleur d'aprés les Tableaux de M. Schall . .

Paris: chez Defer de Maisonneuve, rue du Foin S. Jacques, no. 11, 1792. First Edition thus. Full Calf. Fine. First Illustrated French Edition, Second Issue (preferred) by Maisonneuve, one of the earliest examples of coloring printing (preceded in France only by Sergent's Portraits des grands hommes), in magnificent eighteenth-century French calf. Parallel texts in English and French, the latter a prose translation by Nicolas François Dupré de Saint-Maur (first published 1729), revised for this edition by C. J. Chéron de Boismorand. In two volumes. Royal 4to: [4],viii,391,[1]; [4],377,[1]pp, with half-titles and 11 (of 12) color stipple-engraved, unlettered proof plates on papier vélin, by Bonnefoy, Clément, Colibert, Demonchy, and Gautier after paintings by Schall. The plate for Book II ("Crowned skeleton, with menacing hound, fights with a maiden in the heavens") never bound in. Full period marbled calf with gilt-tooled borders, turn-ins and spine, red morocco lettering and green numbering pieces gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, plates with tissue guards laid in. Title-pages with signature of Joseph Robert Hownam. A superb, wide-margined set, clean, crisp and bright—a spectacular production of one of the earliest works with engravings printed in color. Brunet III: 1731. ESTC T134616. Cohen De Ricci 708. Lewine, p. 358. Christies Sale 5380, Lot 106. Joseph Robert Hownam (whose book this was) served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars at Copenhagen, Madeira, and in the Mediterranean, and later gained notoriety as part of the retinue of Queen Caroline, testifying in divorce proceedings brought by the Prince Regent. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).