Anonyme - Petit almanach de la Cour de France - 1824

ALMANACHS – COUR DE FRANCE – XIXth CENTURY [ANONYME / COLLECTIF] Little Almanach of the Court of France. 1824. Eighteenth Year. Paris [undated, late 1823], 1 volume in-32 (miniature format) in its original matching case. Illustrated with superb full-page engravings (including harbor views by Couché Fils). Pocket miniature in-32 (ultra-portable dimensions, designed to fit easily in a waistcoat pocket or a handbag of the era). Complete with its title page elegantly typeset ("Eighteenth Year", dated 1824), its calendar and its full-page engravings finely executed by Couché Fils (notably Le Port de Boulogne and La Ville et le Port de Dieppe). Full red morocco with fine lattice, boards framed by a rich gilded frieze of roulettes and small florets, gilded edges. The whole is housed in its original matching case also in red leather adorned with gilded decorations and bearing the title on the back: « ALMANACH DE LA COUR » as well as the year « 1828 » (case from the same series or reused to hold this copy). A refined testimony of the small administrative and fashionable almanacs of the Restoration, published under the tutelage or in the spirit of Court publications, listing the composition of the royal family, the nobility and the high state institutions. Exceptional state of preservation. The binding of the volume is in very good condition with its gilding blazing. The original case shows light wear on the edges but remains particularly solid and rare to find complete with its book. Interior very fresh. Paper well preserved, text pages clean and superb harbor-view engravings with very fine lines. The pocket almanacs under the Restoration were the epitome of refinement for high society. Slid into a red leather case, they allowed one to navigate the social calendar, know the protocol and the exact hierarchy of Court dignitaries, and marvel at miniature topographical engravings of great artistic finesse (as here the port views engraved by Couché). Stunning copy.

Estimate:£127.14

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