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Épreuves du sentiment

Author: François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d' Arnaud (French, 1718–1805)
Illustrated by: Charles Eisen (French, 1720–1778)
Illustrated by: Clément Pierre Marillier (French, 1740–1808)
Illustrated by: Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier (French, 1738–1826)
Engraved by: Pierre Duflos (French, born in 1751)
Engraved by: Mathieu Claude Fessard (French, born in 1740)
Engraved by: Robert de Launay (French, 1754–1814)
Engraved by: Louis Binet (French, 1744–about 1800)
Engraved by: Emmanuel Jean Nepomucène de Ghendt (Flemish, worked in France, 1738–1815)
Engraved by: François Godefroy (French, 1743–1819)
Engraved by: Louis Michel Halbou (French, 1730–1809)
Engraved by: Louis Legrand (French, 1723–1807)
Engraved by: Charles Louis Lingée (French, 1748–1819)
Engraved by: Joseph de Longueil (French, 1730–1792)
Engraved by: Joseph C. Maillet (French, 1751–1811)
Engraved by: Jean Massard (1740–1822)
Engraved by: François Denis Née (French, 1735–1818)
Engraved by: Nicholas Ponce (French, 1746–1831)
Engraved by: G. Texier (French, active 1750–1778)
Publisher: Edmé-Jean Le Jay (French, died in 1797?)
1769–80
Place of Publication: Paris, France

Medium/Technique Illustrated book with 76 etching and engravings
Dimensions Overall (each vol., depth variable): 20.5 x 15 x 3.6 cm (8 1/16 x 5 7/8 x 1 7/16 in.)
Credit Line William A. Sargent Collection—Bequest of William A. Sargent
Accession Number37.1349a-e
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsIllustrated books
Paris: Le Jay [1769-1780]

Catalogue Raisonné Cohen-de Ricci 101 (variant eds.)
Description(Paris: Le Jay, [1769-1780]) Octavo, five vols.; [v. 1] 230 leaves, plus 6 plates; [v. 2] 251 ll., plus 5 pls.; [v. 3] 266 ll., plus 5 pls.; [v. 4] 229 ll., plus 5 pls.; [v. 5] 272 ll., plus 4 pls.; modern gilt-stamped half red morocco, red marbled boards (Fazakerley, Liverpool).

Literary illustrations, decorative vignettes and tailpieces, author portrait on title.

Five-volume set of Arnaud's collected "Epreuves du sentiment," individually published from 1769 to at least 1780. The MFA copy is further included in a uniformly-bound ten-volume set of Arnaud's Oeuvres (the others are 37.1350-1353). Cohen-de Ricci describes a six-volume Delalain edition of the Epreuves, but the MFA set is published by Le Jay. There is a collective title page in the first volume, dated 1772--but the last work in the set ("Amélie") was first published only in 1780. Volumes 1 and 3-5 are continuously paginated; vol. 2 has five works, each paginated separately: two ("Anne Bell" and "Sélicourt") have separate titles dated 1769; the other three have titles dated 1772. The works in the first volume have half-titles indicating they are either in the fourth or fifth editions.

Each work is illustrated with a full-page plate, a vignette, and a tailpiece. All but one are designed by either Eisen (primarily the earlier works) or Marillier; those in the last work are by Le Barbier. The individual titles included are:

Vol. 1: Fanny, Lucie et Mélanie, Clary, Julie, Nancy, Batilde
Vol. 2: Anne Bell, Sélicourt, Sidney et Volsan, Adelson et Salvini, Sargines
Vol. 3: Zênothémis, Bazile, Lorezzo, Liebman, Rosalie
Vol. 4: Ermance, d'Almanzi, Pauline et Suzette, Makin, Germeuil
Vol. 5: Daminville, Henriette et Charlot, Valmiers, Amélie
ProvenanceAcquired in 1907 by William A. Sargent, Boston (1858-1936), by whom bequeathed to MFA, November 17, 1937.