MOLIÈRE. Les Œuvres. Paris : Louis Billaine, 1666.... Lot 60

MOLIÈRE. Les Œuvres. Paris : Louis Billaine, 1666. - 2 volumes in-12, 147 x 86 : 391 pp. and (1 f.) ; 480 pp. Red morocco, gilt filets and roulette on the boards, ornate ribbed spine, blue morocco lining with gilt roulette, double endpapers, gilt edges on marbling (Chambolle-Duru). Guibert, II, p. 564-568. - Tchemerzine-Scheler IV, 820. First rare collective edition of Molière's works, published without the author's consent. It was shared between Gabriel Quinet, Thomas Joly, Charles de Sercy, Louis Billaine, Guillaume de Luynes, Jean Guignard fils, Étienne Loyson and Claude Barbin. It includes Les Précieuses ridicules, Sganarelle ou le Cocu imaginaire, L'Étourdi ou les contre-temps, Le Dépit amoureux, Les Fâcheux, L'École des maris, L'École des femmes, La Critique de l'École des femmes, and Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée. Each volume is illustrated with a beautiful frontispiece engraved by François Chauveau, representing Molière in the roles of Sganarelle and Mascarille in the first volume, and Arnolphe in the second. A copy of which both volumes are addressed to Louis Billaine and complete with the blank leaves, included in the pagination, which are found at the beginning of each play except for Les Fâcheux. A very fine copy in an elegant lined binding by Chambolle-Duru, from the rich library of the bibliophile Achille Perreau (1866-1944). Small rubbing to two nerves on the spine of the second volume. Provenance: Achille Perreau, with bookplate and autograph signature (sale III, 1946, no. 173).