Search Results: Titles starting with P from Comellas Rare Books

s.l., du 26 février 1817 au 4 avril 1818. 4to MANUSCRIPT, 8 quires in 1 volume of 180 unnumbered leaves (7 quires of 24 leaves and the 8th of 12 leaves). Half calfskin, smooth spine, gilded "J" monogram in the center of each cover (contemporary binding, rubbed hinges with missing leather and various defects). Manuscript of a literary instruction course copied by a young girl named Nathalie, apparently residing in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, for her English friend Julia. This course, probably copied from the lessons of a tutor, seems to have followed the plan and theories of the famous work by Charles Batteux entitled "Les Beaux-Arts réduits à un même principe", published in 1746 and which was one of the main aesthetic treatises in French published in the 18th century. The third quire contains concepts on dance and music. The manuscript is divided into eight notebooks copied over a period of more than a year, and the eighth of which ends with the following sentence: "I love my dearest dear… Read More

Lille, [L. Danel], (1909). Small folio. 87 pages. Paperback, printed cover (a few stains). First Edition. The publication by subscription, in 1909, of François Benoît's "La Peinture au Musée de Lille" marked a milestone in the study of art history in France. It was the first time that a French museum had devoted a publication of this importance to a part of its collections. Printed with great luxury in three volumes profusely illustrated in heliogravure, it described, with great erudition, the painting collections conserved at the Musée de Lille. It was also one of the first books on painting to use photography to reproduce works with great precision and establish their records by comparing them with other works throughout Europe - an approach of vital importance for the later development of art criticism. Despite the complete absence of any mention of her name in the work, Berthe Rottembourg played an important role in the layout of this monumental publication, producing all the sanguine-printed… Read More

Aquila, per Giuseppe Maria Grossi, 1788. 8vo. 194 pages. 1 leaf. Half calf, smooth spine decorated (later binding circa 1830). First Edition. A very rare collection of poems composed by Isabella Franchi, a woman of letters probably from L'Aquila, about whom apparently nothing is known. These poems, which seem to be her only production, are composed of sonnets on various subjects of circumstance, on the one hand, and anacreontic poems with idylls, on the other. Of particular note is a poem on the earthquake that struck the city in 1786 (p.140). The book opens with an important speech entitled "Necessità della Poesia" (pp.5-102), composed by the physician Giuseppe Liberatore (1756-1842). In it, he argued that the female brain is more capable of poetic delicacy than the male. Although Liberatore performed the first public anatomy dissection in L'Aquila in 1788, his claims about the female brain do not appear to have been based on physiological observations made during his dissection sessions.… Read More