«Merge Record #»«Title» - Schulz-Falster Rare Books

Instructions pour appreendre à la Jeunesse à se bien conduire dans
les Compagnies. Paris, Herissant, 1785. £ 1000
12mo, pp. [vi], 102, [2]; title a little dust-soiled, lower corner worn and a
little frayed; stitched in early manuscript leaf of an ?army list; ownership
inscription of Robin Servon on the inside wrapper, with date in ink on
upper wrapper. Servan also appears as one of the names on the army
list; a little dog-eared and dampstain to lower wrapper.
Later edition of a rare combined ABC and courtesy book, printed almost entirely in
civilité type. After a brief introduction to the letters of the alphabet, vowels and
consonants and some spelling exercises, the young readers are instructed on proper
behaviour at church, at school, in polite company, while playing, at the table etc. The
work concludes with a brief introduction to numbers and arithmetic, and 126 verses
by De Pybrac, followed by a listing of homonyms. The first edition of this version
was apparently published in 1753.
This is an attractive example of a civilité book, named for the type designed by
Robert Granjon in 1557 and based on the gothic cursive handwriting in vogue at the
time. 'As early as the sixteenth century a particular French type face was given the
name civilité after a French work by Marthurin Cordier, which combined doctrines
from Erasmus's treatise with those of another humanist, Johannes Sulpicius. And a
whole genre of books, directly or indirectly influenced by Erasmus's treatise,
appeared under the title civilite or civilité puerile; these were printed up to the end of
the eighteenth century in this civilité type'. (Norbert Elias, On Civilization, Power
and Knowledge, 1998, p. 76.) Civilité type being similar to handwriting was mostly
used for popular books, such as chapbooks, schoolbooks, songbooks etc.
Provenance: The work is bound in a vellum manuscript leaf, apparently with
military listings; included in a list of names is an officer Servon, which corresponds
to the ownership inscription of Robin Servon on the inside wrapper.
See Gumuchian 1763 (similar ed. of 1813); Carter-Vervliet 471 (similar Paris edition
of 1757).
How to Make Paper Flowers
17.
DE MARIA, Claudio. La Fiorista dà fiori artificiali con varie ricette
per diversi colori. Compilato da Claudio DeMaria. Cesari, 1856.
Manuscript in ink. £ 3750
8vo, pp. [ii], 41, [7] blank, [96], with one very large folding plate (420 x
520 mm), 28 blank, folding plate with short splits to fold; specially
produced vellum notebook with envelope-style flap and remains of
linen ribbon, with memo pockets at front and back, with four sheets of
notes; binding a little rubbed, but very well preserved.