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An Unrecorded, Lost and Forgotten Gem
Of Incredible Scarcity
HENRY, Charles. Scènes de Bal. Dessinées par Charles Henry. Wein: Joh. Schönberg, n.d. [c. 1825].
First edition. Oblong quarto (8 3/4 x 12 1/2 in; 223 x 319 mm).
Seventeen hand-colored engraved plates numbered 2-18.
Original string-tied wrappers with hand-colored garland of figures and objects enclosing printed text with Schönberg label affixed below author's credit. Expected edge wear, light stains to upper wrapper at right corner, occasional smudges to plate margins not affecting images. Housed in a half brown morocco clamshell case.
A lost and forgotten gently satiric gem unrecorded by the usual - and unusual - sources, with no copies at auction since ABPC began indexing results in 1923, and no copies located in OCLC/KVK. Charles Henry is not found in Benezit.
Incredibly rare.
It is unclear whether plate #1 is missing, or even existed in the first place. There is no evidence that the string binding has ever been touched; the upper wrapper appears to serve as the title-page; and plates 2 and 3, of men and women preparing for the ball, appear to be the suite's logical start.
The Plates:
2. La toilette des Messieurs.
3. La toilette des dames.
4. L'antichambre.
5. La présentation.
6. Les engagements.
7. La walze.
8. Le Cotillon.
9. Le quadrille.
10. Le galop.
11. Le paresseux.
12. Le Buffet.
13. La promenade.
14. Ecarte.
15. Le whist.
16. Le souper.
17. Le Retour.
18. Le mecredi des cendres.
Price: $5,500
(To order this item, or for more information, please call 818-222-4103)
