Francesco Antonio Duc (Aosta, attivo a Torino nella seconda metà del XVIII secolo. Membro - L'Italiano in Parigi ovvero Grammatica francese ad uso degli italiani - 1786

Printing place: Turin. Format and dimensions: In 12° pagination: XXIV pages of preliminaries in Roman numerals + 408 pages of text. Complete work
Binding contemporary in full leather. Spine with 5 gilded ornaments. Title incised in gold on an old parchment plaque ("Duc Grammat."). Boards with slight and natural wear of the time, but solid. Overall excellent state of preservation.
This copy stands out for an exceptional apparatus of ownership notes and period marks that trace its history since the year of publication:
1. Author's Dedication: The official printed dedication by Francesco Duc to Count Perron di San Martino, illustrious exponent of the high nobility and Sabaudian diplomacy of the eighteenth century, is present.
2. Contemporary Ex Libris (1786): On the second flyleaf is the handwritten ownership note dated: "Ex libris Joannis Thomae Chianale Cognatentis [Cognatendis] S. F. P. 1786". The note identifies as first owner Giovanni Tommaso Chianale, a lawyer or notary from the Cuneo area, who purchased the volume in Turin in the same year as its printing.
3. Ancient Archive Sign/Mark: At the top margin of the second flyleaf appears the number "6" followed by four small equilateral triangles arranged in a row. This is a classic eighteenth-century "geometric placement" used to indicate the shelf and exact rack of the book in the original library.
4. Traces of Foreign Circulation (Russian Empire): On the first flyleaf there is a price or estimate note of the era expressed in Russian currency: "4 grivne, e 2 copiks", testifying to the fascinating commercial or diplomatic journey undertaken by the volume during the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries.
5. Notes for collectors: Rare and sought-after first edition of a fortunate language manual from the Sabaudian era, enriched by a genuine binding and provenance notes fully intact.
6. At the end of the book there is a catalog of works drafted and published by the publishing house (Brothers Reycends) in those years.