Frédéric Loliée - Papiers intimes e La Fête impériale (Les Femmes du Second Empire) - Ex Libris - 1906-1907





Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 143727 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Two-volume illustrated set by Frédéric Loliée, Les Femmes du Second Empire – Papiers intimes and La Fête impériale, Paris, Librairie Félix Juven, 1906–1907, bound in brown leather, second edition, 800 pages, in excellent condition, with ex libris Toinon M. Schuster.
Description from the seller
Frédéric Loliée – The Women of the Second Empire – 2 illustrated volumes – Paris, Félix Juven – 1906/1907 circa
Interesting and refined pair of illustrated volumes by Frédéric Loliée, dedicated to women, the imperial court, and fashionable society of France during Napoleon III’s Second Empire.
The two works, published in Paris by Librairie Félix Juven in the early decades of the 20th century, are preserved in elegant uniform brown leather bindings, with gilded titles, panels and ornaments on the spines.
Works included in the lot
1. The Women of the Second Empire – Intimate Papers
Author: Frédéric Loliée
Publisher: Librairie Félix Juven, Paris
Second edition, as indicated in the volume
Date: early 20th century
Bibliographic collation: XI + 369 pages
Publisher’s note mentions 44 plates out of text
Work dedicated to the private and social life of the women who animated the court and high society of the French Second Empire, through historical episodes, testimonies, memories and documents of the period.
2. The Women of the Second Empire – The Imperial Feast
Author: Frédéric Loliée
Publisher: Librairie Félix Juven, Paris
Date: early 20th century
Bibliographic collation: XI + 371 pages
Fascinating reconstruction of the world of parties, receptions, elegance and fashionable life during the reign of Napoleon III.
The work delves into the role of women in imperial society, with particular focus on the court’s protagonists, fashions, customs and social transformations of the era.
Illustrative apparatus
Particularly interesting is the rich illustrative endowment, with numerous female portraits, photographic reproductions, and images of 19th‑century attire and customs.
Among the subjects depicted in the photographed plates are:
- Princess Matilde
- Countess of Castiglione
- Laura de Rothschild
- Madame de Pourtalès
- Hortense Neveu
- Photographs and portraits of ladies of the French aristocracy
The illustrations constitute a valuable visual testimony of fashion, feminine elegance, hairstyles, jewelry and courtly culture of the Second Empire.
Bindings and condition
Two volumes in uniform period bindings, with brown leather spines decorated by gilded lines, small ornaments and titles.
The bindings show normal signs of use and age, with superficial abrasions, slight discolorations and more evident wear to the upper cuff areas.
The titles and gilded decorations remain legible.
Internally the volumes are in generally good condition, with clean pages, slight tanning and occasional foxing compatible with age.
The numerous illustrated photographic plates are well preserved and clearly legible.
Historical and collecting interest
A pair of works of particular interest for collectors and enthusiasts of:
- French history and the Second Empire
- Napoleon III and the imperial court
- 19th-century fashion and costume
- Historical photography and portraiture
- History of aristocracy and European society
- Early 20th-century illustrated books
Coordinated two-volume lot, decorative and of notable iconographic interest, with a rich array of images devoted to the protagonists of 19th-century French society.
Ex Libris and provenance: both volumes feature an elegant original pictorial ex libris with the name “Toinon M. Schuster,” depicting a woman in historical dress within a rich Art Nouveau decorative frame. The presence of the same ex libris in both volumes attests to their belonging to the same private library and constitutes an interesting provenance and collectible value.
The photographs form an integral part of the description and show the actual condition of the volumes.
Frédéric Loliée – The Women of the Second Empire – 2 illustrated volumes – Paris, Félix Juven – 1906/1907 circa
Interesting and refined pair of illustrated volumes by Frédéric Loliée, dedicated to women, the imperial court, and fashionable society of France during Napoleon III’s Second Empire.
The two works, published in Paris by Librairie Félix Juven in the early decades of the 20th century, are preserved in elegant uniform brown leather bindings, with gilded titles, panels and ornaments on the spines.
Works included in the lot
1. The Women of the Second Empire – Intimate Papers
Author: Frédéric Loliée
Publisher: Librairie Félix Juven, Paris
Second edition, as indicated in the volume
Date: early 20th century
Bibliographic collation: XI + 369 pages
Publisher’s note mentions 44 plates out of text
Work dedicated to the private and social life of the women who animated the court and high society of the French Second Empire, through historical episodes, testimonies, memories and documents of the period.
2. The Women of the Second Empire – The Imperial Feast
Author: Frédéric Loliée
Publisher: Librairie Félix Juven, Paris
Date: early 20th century
Bibliographic collation: XI + 371 pages
Fascinating reconstruction of the world of parties, receptions, elegance and fashionable life during the reign of Napoleon III.
The work delves into the role of women in imperial society, with particular focus on the court’s protagonists, fashions, customs and social transformations of the era.
Illustrative apparatus
Particularly interesting is the rich illustrative endowment, with numerous female portraits, photographic reproductions, and images of 19th‑century attire and customs.
Among the subjects depicted in the photographed plates are:
- Princess Matilde
- Countess of Castiglione
- Laura de Rothschild
- Madame de Pourtalès
- Hortense Neveu
- Photographs and portraits of ladies of the French aristocracy
The illustrations constitute a valuable visual testimony of fashion, feminine elegance, hairstyles, jewelry and courtly culture of the Second Empire.
Bindings and condition
Two volumes in uniform period bindings, with brown leather spines decorated by gilded lines, small ornaments and titles.
The bindings show normal signs of use and age, with superficial abrasions, slight discolorations and more evident wear to the upper cuff areas.
The titles and gilded decorations remain legible.
Internally the volumes are in generally good condition, with clean pages, slight tanning and occasional foxing compatible with age.
The numerous illustrated photographic plates are well preserved and clearly legible.
Historical and collecting interest
A pair of works of particular interest for collectors and enthusiasts of:
- French history and the Second Empire
- Napoleon III and the imperial court
- 19th-century fashion and costume
- Historical photography and portraiture
- History of aristocracy and European society
- Early 20th-century illustrated books
Coordinated two-volume lot, decorative and of notable iconographic interest, with a rich array of images devoted to the protagonists of 19th-century French society.
Ex Libris and provenance: both volumes feature an elegant original pictorial ex libris with the name “Toinon M. Schuster,” depicting a woman in historical dress within a rich Art Nouveau decorative frame. The presence of the same ex libris in both volumes attests to their belonging to the same private library and constitutes an interesting provenance and collectible value.
The photographs form an integral part of the description and show the actual condition of the volumes.

