Rabelais, Les oeuvres, [Amsterdam], 1663, 2 volumes, nineteenth-century tan morocco gilt, the Northwick–Huth copy

RABELAIS, FRANÇOIS. Les Oeuvres. Augmentées de la vie de l'Auteur & de quelques remarques sur sa vie & sur l'histoire. [Amsterdam: Lowijs & Daniel Elzevier], 1663

FIRST ELZEVIR EDITION; THE NORTHWICK–HUTH COPY.

2 volumes, small 12mo (130 x 70 mm). Roman and italic type, 37 lines plus headline. Collation: *¹² A-X¹² (X11-12 blank); (X)⁸ Y-2Q¹² 2R⁶ 2S⁴: 264 + 234 leaves. First title printed in black and red, woodcut device on 2 title-pages, woodcut initials and ornaments, 1 full-page woodcut illustration in second volume. (Some light spotting throughout.)

Binding: Early nineteenth-century tan straight-grained morocco (135 x 80 mm), richly gilt, on covers at each corner 8-pointed ornament with a flower emanating from each point, leafy tool with small circles extending at right angles from corner ornaments, spine with 5 bands, head and tail compartments gilt, 4-line title in 4 compartments, gilt dentelles, edges gilt, mauve moiré silk linings.

Provenance: John Rushout, 2nd Lord Northwick (1770-1859), armorial bookplate to upper pastedowns—Henry Huth (1815-1878) and Alfred H. Huth (1850-1910), "Ex Musaeo Huthii" bookplate to upper pastedowns, their sale, Sotheby's, part VII, 1 July 1918, lot 6120, £8 15s to Tregaskis—Charles W. Clark (1871-1933), Catalogue 85, his library purchased by—Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia. Acquisition: Purchased in 1982 from John Fleming, New York. References: Tchemerzine, V, 317; USTC 1800291; STCN 09504325X