Diversites Galantes, ou Journal de l'Amour.: Petit chansonnier Francois.

No date but 1788. 94 printed pages with printed twin black borders, 8 finely engraved plates with accompanying engraved titles and texts facing (lacking leaf A1 additional engraved titlepage,reading: Recueil de chansons des meilleurs auteurs, etc). Contemporary ink stamp to title-page. Bound with Le Secretaire des Dames et des Messieurs, same publisher, 48 printed pages on blue tinted paper, with similar borders and with some blank spaces for notes. Also bound with 12 page calendar at end. Bookseller's antique printed descriptions pasted to blank preliminary & frontispiece verso. Contemporary cornflower blue silk place-marker. Leather gilt stamped heraldic label of Sir David Lionel Salomons + similar label of Edward Hailstone on contemporary blue front endpapers. Imprint size 2.1 x 3.8 inches; binding 2.6 x 4.5 inches. Contemporary ruby red morocco binding (very slightly rubbed & corners very slightly bumped). Spine in compartments with scrolling gilt floral hand-tooling within double fillet and pointille borders; green morocco tilting piece with gilt lettering. Covers with triple fillet gilt borders and inner gilt dentelles. Three original gilt decorated loops for keeping the almanac closed but original pin no longer present. All edges gilt. Sir David Lionel Salomons (1851 1925) was a scientist with a fabulous watch collection who owned the second ever car in Britain and organised the first ever car show in the world. Edward Hailstone (1818-90) was a Yorkshire solicitor, churchwarden and book collector. Louis Charles Desnos (1728-1805) was a renowned mapmaker globe maker and publisher of Paris. Not in Grand-Carteret. Cohen-De Ricci, 42. WorldCat only locates one other copy of this edition (at the British Library). This is a rare and highly collectable French almanac.