LOUIS XV (1710-1774), King of France – Le Sacre de Louis XV, Roy de France & de Navarre, dans l'Eglise de Reims, Le Dimanche XXV Octobre MDCCXXII.[Paris, 1722?].

One of the most magnificent of all festival books, in a contemporary binding with the royal arms of France.This monumental work depicts the ceremonial events that occurred upon the coronation of Louis XV at the Cathedral in Reims in 1722. The accompanying descriptive text was written by Antoine Danchet and revised by Jean-Paul Bignon and Claude Gros de Boze. The plates illustrate various scenes from the coronation including the procession to the church, the King prostrate before the altar, the crowning of the King, the celebratory festival held after the coronation, and the costume plates show the attire worn by Louis XV and some of the notable figures in attendance. Berlin 3009; Brunet V, 19 “ce volume est recherché à cause de belles planches qu'il renferme”; Cohen-de Ricci 917; Vinet 516; Watanabe 2018.

Folio (630 x 473mm). Text printed on rectos only. Engraved throughout, preliminaries and accompanying descriptions of plates each within elaborate border, engraved title-page, nine double-page plates on guards; 30 single-page costume plates, double-page “Table,” single-page list of “noms des peintres et graveurs,” and nine headpiece vignettes of allegorical figures by Charles Nicolas Cochin the Younger, Louis Desplaces, Ennemond Petitot, et al. after Pierre Dulin and Pierre Josse Perrot (captions of all “Explications des figures allégoriques” plates, costume plates, engravers’ legends, and double-page “Table” at end supplied in manuscript in a contemporary hand; occasional light spotting and toning, primarily on margins). Contemporary French mottled calf gilt, with the royal arms of France on covers, by la veuve Le Monnier, Place Sorbonne (rebacked, corners restored, extremities lightly worn).