Nouveau Dictionnaire de la Langue Francaise
Paris: Chez Deterville, 1820. Very Good. Item #27376
Paris: Chez Deterville, 1820. First Edition. Two volumes; large, thick quartos; contemporary half parchment over marbled paper-covered boards, contemporary manuscript spine titling, all edges stained red; [4],viii,1093,[1]; [4],1063pp.; text printed in triple column. Parchment rather grayed from dust-soil, margins scuffed, contemporary ownership signature to title pages, else a Very Good, internally clean and sound set.
Late-career dictionary by the French linguist and grammarian Jean-Charles Laveaux (1749-1827) whose colorful career brought him to Dusseldorf in the waning years of the 18th century where he is believed to have written the lion's share of the Gallerie of Dusseldorf catalog. A stint in Strasbourg brought Laveaux into contact with Mirabeau, under whose influence he later voted in favor of the execution of Louis XVI for which he was jailed during the Reign of Terror. Perhaps after such an experience Laveaux left behind French politics in favor of the French language for good. A second edition of this hefty dictionary was published in 1828, a year after his death.
Reference: Thomas W. Gaehtgens and Louis Marchesano's "Display and Art History: The Dusseldorf Gallery and Its Catalogue" (2011), pp. 32-3.
Price: $150.00