Les amours pastorales de Daphnis et Chloé

12mo, fully bound in full morocco of the period in quarto format, green morocco binding, spine with 6 raised bands, gilt title, compartments decorated with small tools, covers bearing coat of arms, bordered by two floral rolls and 2 double fillets, decorated with a wide border composed of various tools including flowers, birds, and cherubs in the spandrels, with at each corner the figures of two bagpipes or binious, and two crossed ceremonial staffs, all in gilt, double gilt fillet on the edges, wide gilt inner border, doublures and endpapers in pink satin, gilt edges. Armorial binding in morocco with wide dentelle decoration made around 1745.

293 x 206 mm.

[Philippe d’Orléans]. Longus. The Pastoral Loves of Daphnis and Chloe.
[Paris, printed by Quillau], 1718.

Unique copy of one of the most famous illustrated books of the 18th century, consisting of 2 leaves for the title and preface, and 159 pages.

“Lovely and much sought-after edition (printed in 250 copies), known as the ‘Regent’s edition’, because it was the Regent Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who commissioned it and had the engravings made by Benoît Audran, after the paintings inspired by Longus' novel. The small-feet figure, attributed to Caylus, is not part of the book, as it was only engraved in 1728; however, it has been added to many copies. Those bound in beautiful period bindings are extremely valuable.”

Remarkable copy, lavishly bound, of this famous “Regent’s edition” printed at the expense of Philippe d’Orléans, with illustrations engraved after his own designs.

The said illustration, fully copper-engraved, consists of a frontispiece by Audran after A. Coypel, 28 plates (13 of them double) by Benoît Audran after the drawings of Philippe d’Orléans. In addition, there are 4 vignettes, one at the head of each book. Two versions of the so-called “small-feet” engraving have been added to this copy, making a total of 30 plates.

All engravings are in 18th-century colour, with each page or plate framed by a hand-painted double red and single blue filament border; running titles are manuscript in red, and page numbers in black; the leaves are ruled in red.

There are variants in the text and in the number of vignettes, as observed by historian Marianne Grivel, who notes that it is “extremely difficult to untangle the history of the various printings and editions [...]” and mentions the hypothesis of a first limited printing for the Regent.

Precious, highly collectible and beautifully coloured copy, splendidly bound in green morocco with a large gilt lacework pattern bearing the arms of Marie-Yves Desmaretz, Count of Maillebois, Marquis d’Alègre, son of Jean-Baptiste-François, Marquis de Maillebois, Marshal of France, and Marie-Emmanuelle d’Alègre, born in August 1715. He was appointed colonel in 1734, Master of the Wardrobe to the King by inheritance from his father in 1736, brigadier on 20 February 1743, Maréchal de camp on 2 May 1744, and Lieutenant General on 10 May 1748; he became an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences in 1749.

Governor of Douai in June 1753 and lieutenant general of Upper Languedoc on 7 May 1756, he was created a Knight of the Royal Orders on 2 February 1757; after certain unsuccessful military operations, he fell into disgrace, was stripped of his titles, and imprisoned (1758); upon his release (1760), he went to Holland. Some time later, he was reinstated, and in 1784 was even given a diplomatic mission in the Netherlands. An avowed opponent of revolutionary principles, the Count of Maillebois offered his services to the Condé army, but they were refused. He died on December 13, 1791 in Maastricht. He married, on March 11, 1745 (or May 11, 1747), Marie-Madeleine-Catherine de Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson, daughter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The 1718 Longus in quarto format is extremely rare.

Provenance: Marquis d’Alègre (1715-1791); Etienne Jean Lejourdan (1756-1832); Robert Brun (1896-1978), palaeographic archivist, book historian, author of the thesis “La ville de Salon au Moyen-Âge” (The City of Salon in the Middle Ages) published in 1924, and “Le livre illustré en France au XVIe siècle” (The Illustrated Book in France in the 16th Century) (1930, revised in 1969); curator at the National Library (1926-1949), later Inspector General of Libraries (1946-1963).