Binet, Louis CRILLON, Louis Athanase des Balbes... Lot 746

Binet, Louis [CRILLON, Louis Athanase des Balbes de Berton] Mémoires philosophiques du baron de*** [...]. Paris (t. II : Vienne, and is in Paris) Berton (imp. Vve Ballard [= Marie-Anne Paulus-Dumesnil]) 1778-1779 2 vols. in-8° : [2]-viii-6 (numbered 3 to 6, 2 n.c.)-296-[4], 352 pp.; 4 h.-t. (qqs. light spotting, rare spotting, stains on one f. of t. I). Contemporary red morocco, boards with arms surrounded by gilt lace with small irons, smooth gilt spines with flowers, green title and tomaison, gilt roll on the edges, gilt inner dent., gilt tr. (qqs. light dark spots, dull corners). Beautiful copy of this rare publication, composed of the original edition of vol. II and the second edition of vol. I, "corrected and enlarged". Illustrated with 4 (out of 8 ?) aquatints, 1 front. and 3 plates (including the 2 sought-after views of the Café Procope) not signed but generally attributed to Binet. The novel deals with the philosophers to whom the author opposes by strongly attacking the materialism professed by d'Holbach. Sought after for its depiction of the interior of the famous Procope café in Paris, frequented at the time by Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and D'Alembert. Ref. Barbier III:3. - Cohen 267 (original ed. with 8 h.-t., all placed in t. I). Prov. Charles III of Spain (1716-1788) (super ex-libris). - Amaury de Ghellinck d'Elseghem Vaernewyck (bookplate "Bibliotheca Elseghemensis" lithogr. by N. Heins in Ghent).