CHODERLOS DE LACLOS (P.-A.-F.). The Dangerous... Lot 27

[CHODERLOS DE LACLOS (P.-A.-F.)]. The Dangerous Liaisons or Letters collected in a Society, & published for the instruction of some others. By M. C. de L. At Neuchâtel, from the Impr. of the Typographical Society, 1782. 2 vols. in-8, [1] f. (title), VIII p. (warning, preface), 357 p. + [1] f., 365 p., long-grained red morocco, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt dots, title, tomaison and date gilt, compartments richly decorated with dots and small irons, boards bordered by a frieze of vine leaves with angular fleurons, all gilt, set of gilt roulettes and fillets, at the necks and headpieces, lining and endpaper of azure silk, framed by a border of gilt irons with Egyptian motifs, gilt roulette at the edges of the counter-pieces, gilt edges on witnesses, covers. (slight rubbing to the spines, corners of the case rubbed). Quite a rare edition published in in-8° format at the date of the original. It was considered by some bibliographers as the original, and even the pre-original published without the author's knowledge, before Max Brun showed that it was a copy of the second or third Durand-Neveu publication. An exquisitely bound copy by Noulhac, who has preserved all its margins (h=207mm). Provenance: Bibliothèque de M. B***, Paris, 14 May 1925, n°164 (and bookplate engraved with the monogram MB in a circle). (M. Brun, Bibliographie des éditions des Liaisons dangereuses portant le millésime 1782, edition "O", described p.37 and 49).