Almanach, Person de Bérainville [Plein maroquin, gravures aquarellées] - Etrennes patriotiques ou Recueil anniversaire d’allégories sur les époques du règne de Louis XVI. - 1778

[Almanach, Person de Bérainville], Patriotic New Year gifts or Anniversary Collection of allegories on the epochs of the reign of Louis XVI. First series [a word erased]. composed and dedicated to the king by the chevalier de Berainville.

Paris, Desnos, sd [1778]. In-18, frontispiece-title-16f-[5-48]-[24 plates]-[12]p.

Extremely rare copy in period coloring of this rare edition which Henry Cohen (Cohen, 11) gives as 1778 and for which he notes 15 engravings by Voysard, after designs by Bérainville. Our copy has fewer, even though the work is entirely engraved. By contrast, a copy offered by Susanne Schulz-Falster rare books (February 2013, catalogue no. 10, no. 28) contained 9 engravings like ours (but with a differently constructed volume and whose engravings were left in black).

The 16 leaves are printed on one side only (each figure facing the text).

Composition of our copy:
Frontispiece engraved by Voysard, colorized at the time.
Engraved title, colorized at the time.
2 leaves, dedication of Person de Bérainville to the King.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “Avenue of Louis XVI to the Throne, May 10, 1774.” The engraving’s caption reads: “France, spare your heart from superfluous regrets / If he lost a Nestor, he finds a Titus.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “The felicity promised to the Kingdom by the alliance of Louis XVI with Marie-Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria.” The engraving’s caption reads: “O Queen of our hearts whose fortunate omens / announce the return of a time so regretted, / Sharing Louis’s virtues, kindness, / The beautiful days he promises, you will delight.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “The inoculation of Louis XVI in June 1774.” The engraving’s caption reads: “France, far from blaming Louis’s courage / You must, by imitating him, purify within him / The source of a poison, whose cruel ravage / Destroys more subjects than iron and brass.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “Recall of the Parliament of Paris on November 1, 1774.” The engraving’s caption reads: “The Sun eclipsed by a stormy time / Has only more splendor in its return to our eyes.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “The coronation of Louis XVI on June 11, 1775.” The engraving’s caption reads: “From the hands of the Divinity / Louis you receive the crown; / But your virtues and your goodness, / In our hearts secure the Throne for you.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “Marriage of Madame Clotilde, sister of the King, with Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont.” The engraving’s caption reads: “Flee pleasures, you lose your mother / Her charms, her virtues, which captivated your heart / Go to a foreign Court / To spread the sweetnesss of happiness.” The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
Engraving, colorized at the time, facing a text page “Restoration of the Queen’s health in September 1776.” The caption is without text. The text page border is highlighted in yellow.
“Secretary,” pages numbered from 5 to 48, all with an engraved border.
p.5 Use of the secretary.
p.6 blank.
p.7 to 13: one page per day of the week.
p.14 to 37: two pages per month of the year with columns for loss and gain.
p.38 and 39: Recapitulation.
p.40 to 48 blank.
24 unnumbered pages and entirely blank
12 pages for the 1779 calendar, on slightly different and lightly yellowed paper.

It is interesting to note that the frontispiece was reused for different editions of the Etrennes patriotiques, up to 1791, where they contain the French Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Full red morocco, smooth decorated spine, title piece, triple rule framing the boards, initials “F.V.” added on the first board (later), gilded edges, decorative fillet along the endleaves, wear at the corners, small wormhole in the spine reaching the paper only at the end of the quires.

Very beautiful copy, extremely rare in period coloring.