MUSIC – LAUJON, Pierre (1727-1811). Bound manuscript, “Recueil de chansons de société, par M. Laujon. Tome Premier”. France, c.1780s.

270 pages, 210 x 172mm, including 53 pages of music (occasional light spotting). Contemporary French red morocco gilt, green morocco titling pieces, silk ribbon bookmark, with arms of the Comtesse du Barry on covers (very lightly rubbed). Provenance: Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (1743-1793; binding) – Edgard Stern (1854-1937, Parisian banker and collector; bookplate, confiscated from him by the Nazi authorities following their occupation of Paris after May 1940 and eventually restituted to Mme Edgard Stern; family sale, Drouot, 27 June 1988, lot 95).

Songs from 18th-century France, bound for the Comtesse du Barry.Volume 1 only. Pierre Laujon was a French playwright and chansonnier, author of numerous songs and operas throughout his long career. He was a member of the Académie française, elected to that august institution in 1807. See Cioranescu 37493-37517 (for printed works by Laujon); G. Vapereau, Dictionnaire universel des littératures (1876), p.1205.