[PARIS]. - Lot 33

[PARIS]. Statuts, ordonnances et règlemens du corps des Marchands, Merciers, Grossiers, Joüailliers de cette Ville de Paris. Paris, 1726. - 3 parts in one volume in-4, 247 x 190 : 107 pp. ; 23 pp. ; 3 pp. Brown calf, decorated in the Du Seuil style, with fleur-de-lys at the corners, and gilt coat-of-arms in the center of the boards, title stamped in gilt capitals over 4 lines on the first board, spine ribbed and decorated with repeated fleur-de-lys, gilt edges (period binding). Very rare collection of statutes, ordinances and regulations issued by the kings of France from 1407 to 1694 to the merciers, grossiers (wholesalers) and jewelers of the city of Paris. Following the statutes are a number of court rulings in their favor, protecting them from any incursion by other guilds on their prerogatives. Marchands de tout et faiseurs de rien" ("Merchants of everything and makers of nothing") mocked Diderot in his Encyclopédie. Yet the merciers' guild was one of the most important and influential, playing a key role in the spread of French art and luxury in the 18th century. An attractive, fully-regulated copy, bound in the coat-of-arms of France. The binding is very similar to that of a copy of the same collection, in the 1694 edition, held by the Bibliothèque nationale. Copy from the library of Eugène Aubry-Vitet (1845-1930), archivist and paleographer, confidant of the Count of Paris in exile and chairman of the board of the Revue des deux mondes. This copy then passed to the library of Yves Levy (1910-1982), literary critic and erudite bibliophile, who had assembled a fine collection of books on political philosophy and economics from the 16th to 18th centuries, and then to Guy Gaulard. A very fine copy in contemporary armorial calf. Upper hinge, headpieces and corners skilfully restored. Provenance: Eugène Aubry-Vitet, with bookplate. - Yves Levy (cat. 2006, no. 316). - Guy Gaulard (cat. I, 2019, no. 14).