ÉPREUVES DES DIVERS ORNEMENS TYPOGRAPHIQUES, Gravés sur Bois et polytypés de la Collection de P. Durouchail.
Paris: Imprimerie de E. Duverger, 1827. 10 1/2 x 17. Original blue wraps with title & imprint on upper wrap; table of contents on lower wrap. 42 leaves: 1-30, 35-38, (1), 41-44, 48-50 pages, printed rectos only. The Table of contents calls for only 38 pages. The ornaments on these pages are numbered from 1 to 1217. A note at the bottom of the Table states there will be a new leaf every six months. The subsequent leaves continue the numbering, with the last ornament on page 50 being no. 1606. The un-numbered leaf after p. 38 is a delightful "Abécédaire d'Animaux."
Wraps are bound into old marbled boards (spine covering perished). Contents generally sound; paper edges are soft & feel much handled. There are 14 EXCISIONS; the resultant holes have been professionally filled with other paper. A fair to good copy of this rare specimen. Item #7181
Durouchail was a wood engraver active between 1800-1836; at his death his stock went to Laurent and Deberny. There are well over 1000 cuts and vignettes: armorial & historical, the arts, agricultural & horticultural, commerce, emblems & symbols, religious imagery, monograms, two pages of signs of the zodiac and months, sailing ships & steamers. There are decorative cartouches, head & tail pieces, & borders. Many of the engravings are suitable for book illustrations.
Jammes Spécimens catalogue had a copy with 48 leaves, but lacking pages 43 & 44.
OCLC records only the Newberry copy with 52 numbered pages.
Price: $475.00