[Rarebooks] FS: Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe

[Karen Howell]

I offer:

Series Title: Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe From the 16th to the 19th Century.

Philadelphia: George Barrie & Sons, n.d. (although 1899 and 1900 are printed as the copyright dates on the plates).

Twelve Volumes.  8vo.  8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches.  xvi, 429, [1 blank];  xv, [1 blank], 421, [1 blank]; xxiv, 325, [1 blank]; xix, [1 blank]; 283, [1 blank]; xii, 309, [1 blank]; xi, [1 blank], 333, [1 blank]; xxviii, 325, [1 blank]; [vi], 347, [1 blank]; xii, 361, [1 blank]; xii, 283, [1 blank]; xv, [1 blank], 449, [1 blank]; xii, 505, [1 blank] pp.  Contains a total of 144 plates, each plate printed twice, one in photogravure, and each frontispiece is printed in a colored version for a total of 18 colored plates, each with a captioned tissue guard (with the exception of 1 plate in Volume VIII at page 160), the subjects include the denizens of the courts discussed in the volumes and in addition there is 1 plate of Voltaire and 1 of Benjamin Franklin, historical appendices and index in volume XII; text un-marked, pages lightly toned, occasional toning in the margin of some of the plates.  Quarter dark green morocco, morocco corners, green cloth sides, sides ruled in gilt, spines elaborately gilt-titled and decorated, with 11 red leather shield on-lays on each spine, all edges gilt, marbled end-papers; bindings square and tight, leather on the spines and most of the leather on the sides toned to a warm tan color, leather scuffed in places, some spine ends chipped or roughed up.  A Good set.

$ 125

LIMITED EDITION of 1,000 copies printed on Japanese Vellum Paper, this is No. 764.  Numbered I - XII in the series on the half-titles.  The total number of volumes in this series in their various editions totaled 24.  This group of 12 volumes includes (in order): Madame Ducrest: Memoirs of the Empress Josephine with Anecdotes of the Courts of Navarre and Malmaison (in 2 volumes); Napoleon's Court and Cabinet of St. Cloud in a Series of Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London (in 2 volumes); The Royal Family of France During the Revolution From the Journals and Letters of Princess Lamballe (in 2 volumes, including a portrait of Benjamin Franklin); The Secret History fo the Court of Berlin by Count Mirabeau (in 2 volumes); Secret Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency From the Correspondence of the Duchess of Orleans, Mother of the Regent (1 volume); The Private Memoirs of Louis XV From the Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady's Maid to Madame de Pompadour (1 volume, with a portrait of Voltaire); Memoirs of the Court of Austria by Dr. E. Vehse (in 2 volumes). 

George Barrie and Son of Philadelphia was founded by George Barrie of Glasgow in 1873 after George Barrie had spent some time working for J. B. Lippincott.  He and his sons grew their company into an important publishing house for fine art works, prints, and books.  Their imprints won medals at all the leading exhibitions including the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the 1889 Expo in Paris, in Chicago in 1893, and again in Paris in 1900.  The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe was kept in print in various editions for a number of years.  It ran to twenty-four volumes, but this particular set appears to be complete in itself, with the Volume numbers  printed on the half-titles, and the scholarly apparatus at the end of Voume XII, including the Historical Appendices and the Index, covering the entire range of the set.  Each title here is complete in one or two volumes, so of the books offered, all the parts are present.

Images may be had upon request.

Books do furnish a room.


TERMS OF SALE: Subject to Prior Sale.  Reciprocal trade discount available.  Returnable.  Media Mail $ 6.00 within the US (I will pay 1/2 the estimated $ 12.00 shipping charge); International orders billed at cost.  CA sales tax where applicable, unless valid resale certificate provided or on file.  Checks, Money Order or PayPal preferred.  Call or e-mail to reserve. 

John Howell
310 367-9720