Beschreibung:

COLLECTION ORIENTALE. -- Joules MOHL (translator and editor). Le Livre des Rois par Abou'lkasim Firdousi. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1838-1878. Vols. I-II, IV-VII only (of 7), 2 (443 x 300mm). Texts in French and Arabic. Each volume with decorative general title printed in gold and red, decorative series title in brown, gold and red, volume title printed in black with gold, blue and red vignettes and an elaborate border printed in gold, arabesque title in blue, red and gold. Text in black within elaborate arabesque borders in blue and gold, occasional decorative arabesque head- or tailpieces. (Old dampstain to upper blank margins of leaves to pp.107-8 in vol. IV). [ With :] tienne-Marc QUATREMRE (translator and editor). Histoire des Mongols de la Perse crite en Persan par Raschid-Eldin. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1836. Volume I [all published], 2 (448 x 304mm). Texts in French and Arabic. Decorative general title printed in gold and red, decorative series title in brown, gold and red, volume title printed in black with gold, blue and red vignettes and an elaborate border printed in gold, arabesque title in blue, red and gold. Text in black with borders of either gilt or more elaborate arabesque borders in blue and gold, occasional head- or tailpieces. Together 7 volumes, 2 (443 x 300mm). Bound in contemporary red or green straight-grained morocco, uniformly blocked in gilt and blind to a highly elaborate arabesque design, the central space on the covers occupied either (on the green morocco volumes) by the gilt blocked arms of Napoleon III, or (on the red morocco volumes) by the gilt crowned double-L monogram of Louis-Philippe, spine in six compartments with double raised false-bands, lettered in two, the others decorated in gilt, gilt turn-ins, g.e. (small splits to joints of vols.I, IV-VII of the first work, appreciable scuffing to suface of leather of the lower cover of vol.V of the first work, the second work with very light scuffing to extremities). VERY FINE COPIES OF THE DELUXE EDITION OF BOTH WORKS. The Collection Orientale (according to the Rapport au Roi , dated 1833, in the front of the Histoire des Mongols ) was to have consisted of five works. The death of Quatremre curtailed the publication of the remaining section of the Histoire and led to the cancellation of the proposed Proverbes arabes . What remains is still one of the finest pieces of typography of its time, particularly when seen in the deluxe form as here: three works were published, the present works in 7 volumes and 1 volume respectively and the Bhgavata-Purna in 3 volumes between 1840 and 1847. Brunet's remarks on the second work could equally be applied to the whole series: "L'dition est imprime avec grand luxe, les titres et les pages sont entours d'arabesques. Plusieurs exemplaires ont t imprimes en or et en couleur avec une richesse d'ornements gui rivalise avec les plus beaux mss. orientaux". The bindings of the present selection may be divided by date: those published before 1856 are in red morocco with Louis-Philippe's monogram and those after 1856 are in green with the Napoleonic imperial arms. Brunet II.1268; IV.1118. (7)