CHODERLOS de LACLOS: Les liaisons dangereuses...London,... Lot 33

CHODERLOS de LACLOS: Les liaisons dangereuses...London, 1796. 2 vols. in-8 royal blue morocco, ornate ribbed spine, three gilt fillets on covers, int. lace, gilt edges (Reymann). First illustrated edition. The superb first-edition illustration includes 15 beautiful full-page figures based on drawings by Fragonard fils, Monnet (1732-1816) and Mademoiselle Gérard (1770-1837), who were entrusted with the iconography of this epistolary roman. Their interpretation was carried out by Baquoy, Duplessis-Bertaux, Dupréel, Godefroy, Langlois, Lemère, Lingée, Masquelier, Patas, Pauquet, Simonet and Trière, who engraved the 2 frontispieces and 13 full-page figures, forming the iconographic cycle considered the most accomplished in the 18th century for this text. Portalis, 1877, pp. 245 and 408; Ray, The Art of the French Illustrated Book, no. 82; Sander, 356. Slight russeting. Slight foxing. A fine copy.