Signé; Gustave Desnoiresterres - Iconographie Voltairienne. Histoire et description. [avec L.A.S.] - 1879

Original edition, luxury print run on laid paper, in in-4 format, most certainly in small numbers, of this important iconography on Voltaire established by the 18th-century specialist Desnoiresterres.

Including a beautiful handwritten letter signed by the author, written on a double page (recto and verso).
My dear Mr. Morel, I received with great pleasure the good letter you wrote to me on July 9, in response to my bitter complaints about the failures of typographic art. (...) I am pleased that the Beaux-Arts have deigned to subscribe for twenty copies of the Iconographic; you add that other services might also be as benevolent towards this good Voltaire and us. (...) We deserved what we have and what awaits us; as for salvation, we are unworthy of it, we will perish like the cowards we are, and it will serve us right. 'To the Grace of God!' you say at the end. Help yourself, and heaven will help you, we are told. Draw your conclusion. As for me, I tip my hat to you, ashamed of this rather sterile tirade, thanking you for your tireless kindness and asking you to convey my regards to W...

The high-quality engraved illustration consists of 24 or 25 plates.

Bound in a beautiful half-chocolate morocco binding with corner tips, featuring double gold fillets along the covers and corners, the spine rounded and decorated with fine and rich patterns of fillets and small gold tools, with the title, place, and date in gold lettering, and a gilt head. Printed on laid paper, a fine, uncut copy with large margins.
Provenance: Bookplate glued to the cover, illustrated with a drawing by Victor Lhomme.

Specialist of the 18th century, Desnoiresterres proposed to reproduce the varied physiognomy in a series of studies, the most important of which dealt, under specific titles, with the different periods of Voltaire's life (Voltaire's Youth, 8vo; Voltaire at Cirey, 8vo; Voltaire at the court, 8vo; etc.) and which were gathered under the general title of Voltaire and French Society in the 18th Century (1867-1876, 8 volumes, 8vo): this substantial work, awarded the Bordin prize by the French Academy in 1875, was completed by a Voltaire iconography (1878, 4to).

Desnoiresterres, Gustave
Voltairian iconography. History and description of what has been published on Voltaire, by contemporary art.
Paris, Didier et cie. 1879, quarto volume 28x23 cm, 158 pages + 24/25 plates (missing a portrait plate by Chodowiecki p145).

Condition: Good quality binding, scuffs on the headbands, hinges, and corners. Small scratches on the lower corner. Interior generally fresh and clean, with white and bright paper. Rare foxing on the first two engravings and endpapers. A beautiful copy, in good condition.