[Binding with coat of arms]. LANGUET DE GERGY (Jean-Joseph). - Lot 146

[Binding with coat of arms]. LANGUET DE GERGY (Jean-Joseph). La vie de la vénérable Mère Marguerite-Marie, religieuse de la Visitation Sainte Marie du monastère de Paray-le-Monial en Charolais, morte en odeur de sainteté en 1690, Paris, chez la Vve Mazière et J.-B. Garnier, 1729. In-4, [4] f., LXIX p., [1] f. (approb.), 401 p., fr., marbled havana calf, 5-ribbed spine, garnet morocco title-piece, ornate caissons, triple gilt fillet around covers, gilt coat of arms in center, double gilt fillet at edges, red edges (defects including worn headpieces, worn corners, splits at jaws; liminary ff. a little faded and with margins renewed at the time, sporadic stains and marginal wetness, last f. doubled). First edition of this apologetic biography. It is illustrated with a copper-engraved frontispiece by J. B. Scotin showing the venerable woman at prayer, a copper-engraved entablature with her coat of arms by the same artist at the head of the dedication to the queen, and wood-engraved bands, initials and culs-de-lampe. An exceptional copy, which was mistakenly bound at the time with the coat of arms of Madame de Pompadour. It came from Paul Collin (1707-1775), intendant and executor of Madame de Pompadour's will, prosecutor at the Châtelet, comptroller of the Order of Saint-Louis in 1751, treasurer general of the Vénerie in 1761. He recounted the book's curious history in an autograph note on the first endpaper: "April 25, 1763 Madame de Pompadour returned this book to me, which was inadvertently bound with her coat of arms, even though it belongs to me. Collin". Collin's signature also appears at the head of the title page, and his armorial bookplate engraved on the upper flyleaf. The binding's iron is not reproduced by Olivier, Hermal and de Roton, who present a similar model on plate 2399. A postcard of Marguerite-Marie's tomb has been added to a stapled endpaper. Modern handwritten bookplate and another on letterpress label on the endpapers. Pencil and red chalk markings testify to an early close reading.