Beschreibung:

HANCARVILLE Pierre-François Hugues, dit d' (1719-1805)]. Priapi uti observantur in gemmis antiquis. [With:] Veneres uti observantur in gemmis antiquis. Leiden: [c.1771].
HANCARVILLE Pierre-François Hugues, dit d' (1719-1805)]. Priapi uti observantur in gemmis antiquis. [With:] Veneres uti observantur in gemmis antiquis. Leiden: [c.1771]. 2 volumes, 8° (202 x 145mm). Engraved titles in both volumes, engraved red text within engraved borders and 64 engraved plates, all coloured in a contemporary hand. (Occasional light spotting and soiling.) Slightly later red morocco gilt, gilt edges (extremities a touch rubbed). Provenance : Bibliothèque du Marquis Du Bourg de Bozas Chaix d'Est-Ange (bookplate, the library was sold in 1990 at Drouot-Montaigne). FIRST EDITION WITH FINE HANDCOLOURING of this antiquarian work on the erotic iconography of antique gems. Hancarville worked on the catalogue of the collection of antiquities of Sir William Hamilton the British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples. The number of plates varies probably due to the fact that the copies were put together ‘on demand’. Brunet V, 1119; Cohen-De Ricci 475.