FÉNELON, François de Les aventures de Télémaque.... Lot 1170

FÉNELON, François de Les aventures de Télémaque. [Paris] de l'imprimerie de Monsieur 1785 2 vol. in-4° : [8]-309, [4]-297-[3] pp. (rare russets). Red morocco signed Delorme, boards framed with filets and roulettes, smooth gilt spine with green morocco title-pieces, roulette on the spines and headpieces, gilt fleuronné fillers, gilt edges (a few traces of rubbing, one corner of volume I re-tinted, as well as three of the corners of volume II, otherwise a very fine copy). Superb typographical edition, printed entirely on Annonay wove paper from the Montgolfier factory, designed with specially created typefaces and originally intended to receive the suite of engravings by Jean-Baptiste Tilliard after Charles Monnet, begun in 1771 and sold separately. Illustrated with a title engraved by Montulay, 72 out-of-text compositions after Monnet engraved in intaglio by Tilliard and 24 engraved plates adorned with culs-de-lampe containing the summaries. Monsieur's coat of arms woodcut after Choffard. Each volume bears the signature of the bookbinder Delorme "rue Saint-Jacques, n° 191" on the flyleaf. The 1777 Almanach du Dauphin listed the bookbinder Delorme as "one of the most renowned for leather gilding and precious bindings". Ref. Cohen 384-386.