Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliothèque de feu Chrétien-Guillaume Lamoignon-Malesherbes, disposé par Jean-Luc Nyon…
Engraved medallion port. of the collector on title. 32, [468] pp. 8vo, modern half-calf & paste-paper boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: J.L. Nyon l’aîné, 1797.
The sale catalogue of the vast library, especially rich in natural history, formed by one of the outstanding figures of 18th-century France. Lamoignon-Malesherbes (1721-94), born into one of the great legal families, was the son of Guillaume de Lamoignon, Chancellor of France, who entrusted his son with the control of the press which he exercised in the most liberal manner: Grimm asserted that without his assistance the Encyclopédie would probably... More