Claude-Guillaume Bourdon de Sigrais - Histoire des rats, pour servir à l’histoire universelle - EO - 1737

SIGRAIS, Claude-Guillaume Bourdon de, History of rats, to serve universal history, Ratopolis, 1737.
In-12 (approx. 18.5 × 11 cm), XVI-153 pages. Full calf binding from the period, decorated spine, title piece in red morocco, red edges. Well complete with the two engravings.

Original edition from 1737 of the Histoire des rats, a satirical work attributed to Sigrais, published in 'Ratopolis'. This text aligns with the parodic and scholarly vein of the 18th century and was written in reaction to Moncrif's Histoire des chats. Presented as a false universal history, the author attributes to rats a society, a political organization, and a memory, ironically subverting the conventions of historiography and scholarly erudition. The work was reprinted in 1787 following the Œuvres badines of the Count of Caylus.

A well complete copy of the two engravings attributed to Otten: a engraved frontispiece and a full-page figure (Apollo Sminthéus).

Title page printed in black (there are copies of the same edition with black and red titles).
Presence of an antique ex-libris: E. Bernstein Library, with the motto 'All by love,' mounted on the endpaper.

Vintage binding with wear and patina of use on the spine, sturdy sewing despite slightly weakened boards, top edge dulled. Interior is sound, paper well preserved, with some scattered foxing mainly at the beginning of the work. Complete and pleasant copy.

A rare and sought-after work, emblematic of 18th-century satirical literature, appreciated both for its wit and its engravings.