LESSING, Gotthold Ephraïm - Lot 122

LESSING, Gotthold Ephraïm Du Laocoon ou des limites respectives de la poésie et de la peinture translated from the German of G. E. Lessing by Charles Vanderbourg Paris, Antoine-Augustin Renouard, 1802 ONE OF THE GREATEST TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF ART IN THE 18th CENTURY. REMARKABLE EXAMPLE BY ANTOINE-AUGUSTIN RENOUARD, PRINTED ON ROSE PAPER WITH DOUBLE FRONTISPICE, IN GLAZING BOZERIAN BINDINGS First French-language edition by Charles Vanderbourg In-8 (207 x 125mm). Engraved vignette with Renouard's mark on title page. PRINTED ON PINK PAPER COLLATION: vi-xvi, 2-384 pp. ILLUSTRATION: rontispice depicting the Laocoon engraved by J. G. Salvage after Augustin de Saint-Aubin, in double state, each state before the letter, 2 engraved portraits of Homer and Virgil ATTACHMENT: l.a.s. from translator Charles Vanderbourg to A.-A. Renouard, humbly asking him to acquire a book from his library (O tempora, O mores). BINDING SIGNED BOZERIAN. Long-grained green morocco, gilt decoration, framed with a vine leaf and grape cluster scroll, highly ornate ribbed spine, plum moire lining in a green morocco frame, gilt decoration, gilt edges on witness. PROVENANCE : Antoine-Augustin Renouard (ex-libris, with his autograph note: "cet exemplaire est le seul qui ait été imprimé sur papier rose"; Catalogue de la bibliothèque d'un amateur, 1819, no. 322 -- Aimé Laurent (ex-libris) -- René Descamps-Scrive (ex-libris; Cat., no. 175) "Très bonne traduction d'un ouvrage qui doit être lu et médité par tout artiste qui veut savoir autre chose que copier des tableaux ou des dessins" (Renouard).