Luis Vélez de Guevara - Le Diable boiteux - 1707-1707

An very precise early edition of the history of the book. The “Third edition” of The Devil upon Two Sticks by Alain-René Lesage, published in 1707 in Lyon by Antoine Briasson, is a work especially interesting for bibliophiles.

The original edition (the very first) appeared in Paris at Veuve Barbin at the beginning of 1707. Faced with the phenomenal and immediate success of the novel, several editions followed one after another in the same year. Veuve Barbin shared her publishing privilege with the Lyonnais bookseller Antoine Briasson, which is explicitly mentioned in the text of the “Privilege” of this third Lyon edition.

The work is in In-12 format. It typically includes 1 engraved frontispiece, followed by 6 preliminary leaves, 318 pages of text, and 3 unnumbered leaves at the end (table/privilege).

The frontispiece found in this Briasson edition is often an unsigned counterfeit of the Parisian original engraving by Magdeleine Horthemels.

An antique full-leather binding (probably calf or basane) with a five-nerve spine adorned with gilded floral lozenges.
Nice freshness inside.

Signature (manuscript ex-libris) at the very top of the title page ("maldeteste" or similar)