Phaeton, tragédie mise en musique.

Folio: [4]-lxvi-275 pp. (missing (?) all the 5 engraved plates according to the Württembergische Landesbibliothek digitised copy, i.e. portr. of Lully, vign. "Le Temps Triomphe de l'Envie", front. "Le Trebuchement de Phaeton", a full-page pl. with a Greek god holding a scythe and surrounded by putti, and a portr. of Merops (adoptive father of Phaeton), but other digitised copies also without pl. such as the Badische Landesbibliothek copy; some browning, some dampstaining).

Contemp. calf, gilt orn. spine with 6 raised bands (corners, sides and spine def., large parts of leather missing from covers and spine).

Very rare first edition of Lully's "tragédie en musique" in a prologue and five acts. Lully introduced this genre of French opera and it was used by his followers until the second half of the 18th c. Operas in this genre are usually based on stories from Classical mythology or the Italian romantic epics of Tasso and Ariosto. Philippe Quinault wrote the French libretto for this opera after a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Ref. Württembergische Landesbibliothek (with engr. pl.). - RISM-A1.5-L3002. = Badische Landesbibliothek (without the engr. pl., as issued (?)). = UNT Digital Library (without the engr. plates, as issued (?)). - Cp. BnF (2nd ed.).