Scarron (Paul). - Le Roman comique. Édition ornée de figures dessinées par Le Barbier et gravées sous sa direction. - 1795-1796

Scarron (Paul).
Le Roman comique. Ornate edition with figures drawn by Le Barbier and engraved under his direction.
Paris, from the Didot jeune printing house, for Janet and Hubert, An IV [1795-1796].
3 parts bound in 2 volumes, small-8vo.
VII-[1]-277 pp.; VIII-252 pp.; XIII-[1]-196 pp.
Beautiful illustrated edition of Le Roman comique, printed by Didot jeune, adorned with a sequence of engravings drawn by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier and engraved under his direction by several of the finest burinists of the period, notably Baquoy, Dambrun, Duclos, Hubert, Patas, Petit, Romanet and Simonet.
The illustration includes 15 plates without text, to which is added a portrait of Paul Scarron.
The copy shown here presents a portrait engraved after Deseine. The plates photographed are printed with the letter, well inked, with good margins.
Old half brown calf binding, smooth spine decorated with roulettes, fleurons and gold-tooled and blind tooling, title and volume labels, marbled paper boards. Binding probably from the first third of the 19th century. Wear and scuffs to the spines and boards, some foxing and small scattered stains; overall still solid and decorative. Interior generally well preserved, paper of good quality.
A sought-after edition for the typographic quality of the Didot presses and for the substantial neoclassical suite by Le Barbier.