Gesner - Œuvres Complètes - 1786

IDYLLIC PASTORAL, INDECENT FANTASIES AND SECRET GARDENS
Elegant and deeply representative of Salomon Gesner’s European fortune, this Geneva 1786 edition of the Œuvres complètes sits in the full triumph of late 18th-century pastoral and sentimental taste. The work gathers idylls, prose poems, and moral tales that enjoyed immense circulation, helping to define an arcadian imaginary made of idealized nature, primal innocence, and controlled melancholy. The refined engravings that accompany the text amplify this visual and sensory dimension, making the volume not only a literary object but also an aesthetic artifact. The complete set in three volumes, as in this case, represents coherent evidence of the Francophone editorial reception of Gesner and his role in the transition from Rococo sensibility to pre-Romanticism.
MARKET VALUE
For complete three-volume sets of the Geneva edition of 1786, the antique market generally records valuations between 400 and 900 euros, with higher figures for copies in contemporaneous bindings that are well preserved and with all plates present. Copies with structural binding flaws, as in the present case, tend to fall in the mid-to-lower range.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary half-leather binding with boards covered in marbled paper; smooth spines with gilt titles and rules on green labels; volume numbering impressed, 3 volumes, signs of wear and losses. Frontispieces for each volume with different typographic vignettes; presence of off-text copper-engraved pastoral engravings, some signed (as visible, “de Launay le jeune sc.”). Watermarked paper with some foxing and browning. In old books, with a multigenerational history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 6nn; 20; 220; (2). (2); 2nn; 8; 232; (2). (2); 6nn; 290; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Œuvres complètes de M. Gesner.
Geneva, 1786.
Salomon Gesner.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Salomon Gesner was a central figure in spreading pastoral poetry across Europe in the 18th century. His works, translated and reprinted in numerous languages, embody an ideal of harmonious and morally pure nature, implicitly opposing urban corruption and social complexity. In this edition, the multi-volume structure allows a systematization of the entire corpus, including famous texts such as Daphnis, Evandre et Alcimne and various idylls that contributed to the construction of a shared European bucolic imaginary.
From an iconographic point of view, the engravings are not mere illustrations but true interpretive devices: they visually fix the pastoral feeling, making tangible the ideal of simplicity and harmony. In a quasi-symbolic key, these images function as thresholds between the real world and the imagined one, evoking a sense of escape that anticipates pre-Romantic sensibilities.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Salomon Gesner (1730–1788), Swiss poet, painter, and engraver, was one of the leading exponents of European idyllist literature. Born in Zurich, he developed a poetic language characterized by apparent simplicity, strong visual component, and idealization of nature. His works achieved extraordinary success throughout Europe, profoundly influencing literary and artistic taste between the Enlightenment and early Romanticism.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Gesner’s works were first published in Zurich and quickly reprinted in France, Germany, and Italy. The Geneva editions of the late 18th century, like that of 1786, document the stabilization of the text in a “complete” form and its spread through Francophone editorial circuits. These editions were intended for an educated but broad audience, interested in both reading and the aesthetic pleasure of the book object.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/OPAC SBN: copies recorded for “Œuvres complètes de Gesner,” Genève, 1786 (check specific collations for each volume).
WorldCat: several records for Geneva editions of Gesner’s complete works from the 1780s.
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, II, p. 1539 (Gesner, French editions and translations).
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, III, p. 64.
European bibliographic catalogues (BnF, British Library) for 18th-century Gesner editions.
Critical studies on the European reception of idyll poetry in the 18th century.