I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Le Progres de Seduction
Paris: [Engelmann], 1833. Item #05967
With Fifteen Charming Hand-Colored Lithographed Plates
[WATTIER, Émile-Charles]. Le Progres de Seduction. En Quinze Planches. Á Paris: [Engelmann], 1833.
Large quarto (13 3/4 x 10 1/8 inches; 350 x 257 mm.). Wrapper title. Fifteen hand-colored lithographed plates by Villain (the first nine) and G. Engelmann (the last six) after Wattier. All plates mounted on stubs. Plates watermarked "J. Whatman / 1824 & 1825"
Late nineteenth century maroon morocco over marbled boards. Spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Original printed wrappers bound in. Wrappers a little dust-soiled otherwise a fine copy, the hand-colored plates bright and fresh.
The fifteen plates by Émile Wattier depict a young girl meeting and falling in love with a handsome young man, her liaison with him, and subsequent pregnancy, her receiving a letter saying that he has gone away, and finally her arranged marriage to a much older man. Wattier’s lithographs are very seldom seen.
We locate no other copies with this title, but the suite is listed in Paul Dreyfus-Bing's Index Bibliographique (an index of auction records) for 1894-1895 (Vol. 3: 1216, price 35fr.)
This book was originally issued in 1824 under a different title: Un An de la vie d’une jeune fille, roman historique en XVII chapitres, écrits par son confident et lithographiés par M. Wattier. Paris: Chez G. Engelmann [et] Gihaut, 1824. The two additional plates were “Chap: XVI. On la marie,” and “Chap: XVII. Je suis…heureux, C’est sur!”
Émile-Charles Wattier (1800-1868) was a French painter, illustrator, engraver and lithographer. He was the younger brother of artist Édouard Wattier (1793-1871).
The plates:
Chap. I. Mais, voyez donc comme il me suit?…
Chap. II. Vous êtes bien hardi!
Chap. III. Serez-vous inexorable?
Chap. IV. Comme il dit bien!
Chap. V. Que lui répondre?
Chap. VI. Il est charmant!
Chap VII. Il m’attendait!
Chap. VIII. Ah! si maman me voyait…
Chap. IX. Cher ami!!
Chap: X. Helas.
Chap: XI. Il ne vient points?
Chap: XII. Il est parti!…
Chap: XIII. Vains regrets.
Chap. XIV: Elle y entre.
Chap: XV. Elle en sort.
Lipperheide 3695 (citing the 1824 edition Un An de la vie d’une jeune fille); Rahir, p. 364.
Price: $5,500.00