Office de la Semaine Sainte en latin et & François, à l'usage de Rome et de Paris

Office de la Semaine Sainte en latin et & François, à l'usage de Rome et de Paris.

Paris, Mazières, 1728.

In-8 (198 x 135 mm): [4] ff., XLVIII-852 pp., [1] f . Red morocco, gilt garland on the covers, arms stamped in the center, spine with guilloché ribs, fleurs-de-lys between the ribs, gilt roulette on the covers, gilt edges, gilt roulette on the guards (Contemporary binding).

Original edition.

Beautiful copy of Holy Week with a frontispiece portrait of Queen Marie Leczinska (1703-1768), Queen of France and Navarre from 1725 to 1768.

The frontispiece is the work of Jean-Baptiste Scotin (1678-1740), who also took care of the engravings present in the present copy, including 4 full-page ones. The copy, dedicated to Queen Marie Leczinska, also has her coat of arms on the covers.

The text is framed with superb initials, corbels and garlands. The queen, very pious, probably used this work more than once.

Some rubbing on the corners, corners of the second cover dented, spine of the first cover rubbed and cracked at the top over 3 centimetres, spine of the second cover cracked at the bottom, lower headband of the first cover cut off, a few scattered light foxing spots, pencil inscription in English on the page preceding the half-title.

Provenance: two bookplates are to be noted (one on the front endpaper, the other on the back endpaper) but have not been identified. However, they do not seem to be French. Attached is the description by the former bookstore of the great American bookstore of the 1930s-1970s Harry A. Levinson, former co-owner in the 1930s of the Chaucer bookstore in New York and then of another in Beverly Hills.