Œuvres

3 volumes in-4, red morocco, richly gilt spine with raised bands, triple gilt fillet border on covers, name of the first bibliophile Racine Demonville in gilt lettering stamped on the upper covers, gilt roll to inside borders, double gilt fillet on edges, gilt edges. Period binding in modern slipcase.

233 x 183 mm.

Rabelais, François. Works of Master François Rabelais, with historical and critical remarks by Mr. Le Duchat. New edition adorned with illustrations by B. Picart.
Amsterdam, 1741.

This rightly renowned edition of the Works of Rabelais, known as “Le Duchat’s Rabelais,” is the finest and most famous of the 18th century.

It is adorned with “a magnificent frontispiece designed and engraved by Folkema; 1 title engraved by B. Picart for the first and third volumes, 1 vignette on the title page of these two volumes, 3 topographical engravings, the figure of the Bottle, 1 portrait of Rabelais, 12 vignettes and 12 tailpieces by Bernard Picard, and 12 large illustrations by Du Bourg” (Cohen, col. 839 to 842).

“A pupil of Sébastien Leclerc, Bernard Picard, born in Paris in 1673, quickly gained an excellent reputation as a designer and engraver, thanks to his great inventiveness and remarkable skill... The beautiful Rabelais, with Le Duchat’s notes, whose large illustrations are by his pupil Du Bourg, was published after his death in 1733.”
Baron Roger Portalis. The Illustration Designers of the 17th Century.

“Rabelaisian fictional universe offers a unique system of reference in literature, mixing fiction and reality in spatial and temporal dimensions beyond all norms. His three giants, Grandgousier, Gargantua, Pantagruel, are the last descendants of a lineage including biblical giants, mythological giants, giants from chivalric novels, and giants of pure fiction.

One of the extremely rare copies of Le Duchat’s Rabelais preserved in its contemporary morocco leather binding in truly exceptional provenance and condition.

The volumes indeed bear, gilt-stamped on the upper cover at the time, the name of the first bibliophile owner of these volumes Racine de Monville (1734-1797).

In 1757, Monville replaced Antoine Pecquet as Grand Master of Waters and Forests for the Department of Rouen. He held this position until 1765.

Arrested during the Terror, on May 17, 1794, Monville was imprisoned at the Hôtel Talaru, accused of the crimes of “Anglomania and Sybaritism.” He was released eleven days after the fall of Robespierre, on August 5, 1794, to end his life of pleasure three years later, dying from a gum abscess following dental surgery.