Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, estampes, coquilles, & autres curiosités : après le décès de feu Monsieur Dezalier d'Argenville, maître des comptes, & membre des Sociétés royale de Londres & de Monpellier

Engraved frontispiece signed: Augustin de Saint-Aubin inv. 1757

Date of sale: March 3, 1766; Place of sale: Paris.


Antoine-Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville (1680-1765), was a magistrate and civil servant of the state by profession, but also a naturalist and art historian, a contributor to the Encyclopedia, a passionate collector and connoisseur emeritus both in the sciences and arts, and an author, among others works, of a famous Conchyliologie, a very popular treatise on gardening and a summary of the lives of some famous painters. He epitomizes the very persistence of spirit of the curiosity cabinet owner in the time of Louis XV and had one of the richest "curious cabinets" of his time. His collection was dispersed after his death in two sales (held in 1766 and 1779). -- Pierre Coumans description.


Full old tree calf, gilt gillets around sides, spine with gilt raised bands, small gilt fleuron in panels, red and green lettering pieces, inner gilt hatching, blue paper doublure and endpapers, marbled edges.


Watson Library copy: is annotated in a contemporary hand, has bookplate labelled "Bibliotheque du Marquis de Granges de Surgeres", and is bound with Catalogue raisonné des differens effets curieux & rares contenus dans le cabinet de feu M. le chevalier de La Roque.