La doctrine des moeurs.

2 pts in 1 vol., folio: [12 (of 16)]-105 ff. (typogr. title, poem, allegorical pl. and portrait missing, the 2 dedications inverted; marg. loss to 1st engr. title repaired, lower corner of f. 92 restored, soiling, more significant on some ff.).

19th-c. three-quarter red shagreen, marbled paper covers, spine with raised bands, marbled edges matching endpapers (rubbed, loss of leather to head, tail def.).

First edition of this nicely illustrated moral emblem book by Le Roy de Gomberville (1600-1674). Illustrated with 103 nearly full-page emblems after Vaenius's "Emblemata Horatiana", 2 ill. part-titles, 4 headpieces, 4 historiated initials and 2 large tailpieces. Text in French, quotations in Latin.
Ref. Landwehr, Romanic, 476. - Chatelain 68. - Praz 402 (mentions 12 prelims). - Barbier I:1105.
Prov. Holland House, Kensington, later property of the Fox family, becoming a gathering-place for Whigs in the 19th c. The house was largely destroyed by German firebombing during the Blitz in 1940 (armorial bookpl.).