[LEVACHER DE CHARNOIS (Jean-Charles). - Lot 44

[LEVACHER DE CHARNOIS (Jean-Charles). Recherches sur les costumes et sur les théâtres de toutes les nations, tant anciennes que modernes ; Ouvrage utile aux Peintres, Statuaires, Architectes, Décorateurs, Comédiens, Costumiers, en un mot aux Artistes de tous les genres ; non moins utile pour l'étude de l'Histoire des temps reculés, des Mœurs des Peuples antiques, de leurs Usages, de leurs Loix, et nécessaire à l'Éducation des Adolescens. Paris : M. Drouhin, 1790. -2 volumes in one in-4, 249 x 192: frontispiece, (1 f.), 8, 150 pp. (1 f.), 29 plates, 1 map; (1 f.), 175 pp. (1 p.), pp. 176-183, 24 plates. Marbled basane, ornate ribbed spine, edges painted with white interlacing on a blue background enclosing round red and white roundels (period binding). Colas, 717. First edition of this remarkable, unfinished work, offering an in-depth study of ancient costume in the theater, with the author basing his work primarily on the characters in Jean Racine's tragedies. Journalist, literary critic and playwright Jean-Charles Levacher de Charnois (1749-1792) was well acquainted with the world of theater. He contributed to the Journal des théâtres and published an ambitious work entitled Costumes et Annales des grands théâtres, begun in 1786 but abandoned in 1789. These Recherches complement it. The illustrations include a frontispiece and 53 plates, mostly in color and wash, engraved by Pierre-Michel Alix, Ridé and Sergent after drawings by Philippe Cléry. The plates include a map of Epirus. A very fine copy in contemporary binding, with painted edges. It is complete with 8 pages of Preliminary Observations, which bibliographers do not mention. Brown mark on the second cover. The painting on the gutter is partly faded. Provenance: Dubuisson, with his name gilt at the bottom of the spine.