Bernardin de Saint-Pierre / Maurice Leloir - Paul et Virginie [1/100 sur Japon avec suite, Reliure signée Bretault] - 1888

Beautiful illustrated edition of the famous novel by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, bound in a luxurious binding signed Bretault.
Executed in full night blue morocco, triple fillet framing on the covers with fine geometric compositions in the center, back with gold-embossed panels and interlaced fillets, title, date, and place stamped in gold letters. Fillets and geometric composition similar to the endpapers, with the binder's name stamped at the bottom. Gilt-edged pages. Endpapers doubled with a flower-embroidered fabric. Gilded edges. Covers and spine preserved. Under a slipcase edged with red leather.

Decorated with 120 drawings within the text and 12 full-page illustrations by Maurice Leloir (1853-1940).

From the luxury edition, one of 100 copies on paper by the Manufactures du Japon, containing a suite of all the wood engravings bound at the end (the certificate mentions a double suite, but our copy contains only one). It is numbered 75.

Very beautiful, untrimmed copy, in good condition. Nice binding, the two spines cracked and corners slightly rubbed. Case rubbed and damaged at the edges and corners. Interior impeccable. Fine print of the engravings.

Provenance: Ex-libris featuring a boar in a medallion, surmounted by a helmet, attached to the front page (see photos).

Iconic novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814), a French writer and botanist, which tells the story of two children living on the island of France (now Mauritius).

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre / Maurice Leloir
Paul and Virginie
H. Launette & Cie Artistic Library, publishers, Paris, 1888
in-4 - (28.5 x 21.5 cm)
XXIII, 208 pages, 12 plates outside the text (including frontispiece)