Extended to 2 volumes. Contents of the issued book extended to size, as are the inserted prints. Extra-illustrated with approx. 16 autograph letters, bound in, & approx. 125 prints and engravings, mostly portraits, extended to size and bound in. 30x20 cm (11¾x7¾"), period full red levant morocco ruled in gilt, spines tooled & lettered in gilt, raised bands, gilt inner dentelles, all edges gilt.
Superb example of the extra-illustrated book, with autographs and engravings relating to the life of Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël, a French woman of letters whose lifetime overlapped with the events of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. Among the letters and autograph material are those of Victor Hugo, Chateaubriand, Abbe Raynal, George Sand, the Marquis de Lafayette, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Louis Rederer, and others. The engravings are mostly portraits, with Rousseau, Sand, Napoleon and other Bonapartes, Marat, Lafayette, Robespierre, Richelieu, Mirabeau, Marie Antoinette, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller, Talleyrand, Pascall, and others.
Condition:
Some minor wear to corners and spine ends, joints rubbed, front joint of Vol. I cracking and tender; overall very good, in need of just a little attention to the bindings.