Etrennes mignonnes pour l’an de Grace de Notre-Seigneur. M.DCCLXII. Liège, Everard Kints, no date [1762]. In-32 (9,7 x 5,5 cm or 3.81″ x 2,16″). [56] ff. and [14] ff. blanks, 12 full-page woodcut showing coin wood ingraved in the text. Contemporary ivory silk binding embroidered with gold and silver, silver threads interlacing on the back, cover decorated with light and dark green, pink, purple and yellow silk flower bouquets, contreplats of handmade paper, gilt slices. Contained within a later brick cloth dropover box 2th mid-twentieth century, padded with ivory felt, gilt title on the back.
Almanach which has appeared for many years, without appreciable modifications in its presentation; it contains the ecclesiastical comput, the religious feasts and the « quatre-tems » [the seasons] of the year, eclipses, the calendar of the year, the dates of birth of the kings and princes of Europe, the value of the currency, the magistrates of Liège, the charges, Palace festes and “effractions”, the prayer calendar, a multiplication table, the « tarif des as à perdre sur les Ducats légers au-dessus de 2 as de remède », as well as on the Pistole of Spain, the old Louis and the Carolin.
“Beautiful fully embroidered binding” (Précieux Almanachs du XVIIIe siècle pour la plupart recouverts de riches reliures de l’époque composant la Collection de M. Marcel Silvan, sale René Boisgirard, experts Ch. Bosse – L. Giraud-Badin, Paris, 1936, n° 11).
Precious étrennes in an exceptional state of conservation. These style rocaille almanacs were the most luxurious gifts, true witnesses of the brilliant court of the Prince-Bishop of Liège John Theodore of Bavaria (1703 – 27 January 1763). Their fragility makes specimens in excellent condition particularly rare and sought after. They are a remarkable testimony of this refined era..
Note in black ink on an interfoliated sheet: “on 27 June 1824, I got a new hat… as well as a black coat…….. “
This almanac comes from the estate of Texas philanthropist and patron Robert L. B. Tobin (1934-2000), who probably had made its protective box ; the copy was sold for the benefit of the Tobin Foundation, by Christie’s, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, in New York, on 24 May 2002, lot n° 153.
Small brown spot at the head of three sheets, exceptional condition.
3 000 €