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

8vo, engraved frontispiece, pp. viii, 319, with 8 unsigned engraved
plates in the text, one an engraved title, title printed in red and black,
with attractive title vignette; slight dampstain to fore-margin, and ink
stains to final pages; contemporary full red cushed morocco, spine
decoratively gilt, gilt-lettered spine label; sides with triple fillets, a.e.g.
discreet repair to upper board; an attractive copy, with early
bibliographical note to front free endpaper.
First edition of this unusual and attractively illustrated work on Paris street peddlers,
hawkers and distributors of pamphlets and books, allegedly published under the
auspices of the Paris Guild of Booksellers and Printers. Caylus (1692-1765) was an
amateur engraver, antiquarian and writer from a well-off aristocratic family which
allowed him to follow his lifelong interest in the arts and antiquities. He played a
prominent role in the Société du Bout du Banc, an informal group of writers and
aristocrats who met at the home of the actress Quinault. They published a whole
series of oeuvres badins, licentious and playful stories, mostly published under
Caylus' name and in fact mostly written by him.This appears to be in the same vein,
a collection of histories and sketches relating to the exploits and experiences of book
peddlers and hawkers. Each anecdote is illustrated with an appealing and competent
engraving, executed possibly by Caylus himself. The particularly attractive engraved
title, showing a billposter putting up a poster or placard with the title, and partly
obscuring it in the process, is according to Cohen possibly by Ch. N. Cochin.
The work is also interesting in that the section beginning on p. 188 Le Malebosse
describes and illustrates a scheming poet, i.e. Voltaire who is duped by a fake book
peddlar. This is in fact one of the first anti-Voltaire caricatures (Apgar).
Cioranescu XVIII 16265; Cohen, c 210; see Apgar, Trois siècles d'iconographie
voltairienne.
The First Telegraph Engineer
11.
[CHAPPE, Claude.] Il Telegrafo ossia Descrizione della Macchina
nuovament retrovata in Parigi per Trasmettere in Brevissimo Tempo
a Grandi Distanze qualunque Notizia. Con Figure. Estratta
dall'Edizione Tedesca di Vienna presso Baumeister 1794. £ 650
8vo, pp. xiii, [3] blank, 4 engraved plates bound at the end, decorative
head-piece and initial; some spotting throughout, partly uncut in
contemporary blue wrappers.
First edition in Italian of Claude Chappe's 'optical' telegraph, which depended on
visual signals and preceded the modern telegraph. His device consisted of an upright
post, on the top of which was fastened a transverse bar, while at the ends of the latter
two smaller arms moved on pivots. The position of these bars represented words or