Comte de Caylus - Les Manteaux. Recueil - 1746

Caylus, Les Manteaux. Recueil. The Hague, 1746 - 2 volumes in one duodecimo binding (17x11) of xiv-182 (2b)-2ff., 128 (2) pp., hardcover.

First edition, rare, published anonymously and without address.

Copy complete of the frontispiece of Cochin, engraved by Fessard.

Well executed with large margins, in fine period glazed full calfskin binding, ribbed spine adorned with a garnet morocco label and an elaborate small tooled gilded decoration, fillets on the cuts, speckled red edges. Levelled headcap. Cracked joints, the first all along the length but not affecting the soundness of the volume. Fresh and clean inside, meticulously printed on laid paper, some marks from handling but nothing serious, a handwritten note “j'ai eu ce livre à la vente de Mr Fontaine, Rouen, 1830” on the first endpaper page.

This compilation, which is both facetious and serious, consists of two parts: the first is a series of 12 tales on the theme of the coat (long coat, mantelpiece, bed-gown, etc.), preceded by a curious epistle to M. Manteau, cobbler; the second is a series of short essays on the different coats (royal, duke's and peer's coat), short treatises and a glossary of vocabulary.

For the record, it should be noted that the most distant use of the romantic expression "coup de foudre" ("love at first sight") is found in this compilation, the expression "coup de foudre" was mainly used in the 18th and 17th centuries in the sense of astonishment when hearing news (Duneton: Anthologie des expressions populaires). At the end is a bibliographical note about the tale Le manteau mal taillé, adapted from the Court-mantel, written around 1550...