Lot 99: [FESSARD, CLAUDE MATHIEU.

''OEUVRE[S]''. [PARIS], 1767

4to (350 x 255mm.), manuscript title ''Oeuvre de Fessard'' within engraved border, 30 engraved plates of domestic animals by Fessard, including cats, dogs, horses, poultry, etc., later half morocco, uncut, last few plates somewhat browned, slight soiling at edges of a few, binding very slightly rubbed; sold as a collection of plates, not subject to return

LITERATURE

Nissen, ZBI 1349 (with 36 plates); for Fessard see Portalis et Béraldi, Les graveurs du dix-huitième siècle, vol.2, p.152-153.

NOTE

a rare collection of plates by claude fessard, intended to illustrate a new encyclopaedia planned by Michel Adanson, who had collaborated with Diderot and D'Alembert on the Encyclopédie, and to whom 4 of the plates are dedicated. Adanson's ambitious project presented to the Académie in 1775 never came to fruition although there is an important archive in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris.