The Metamorphoses of Melpomene and Thalia, or Dramatic Characters of the French and Italian Comedies
London: Printed for Robert Sayer, 1772. 12mo, 5 5/8 x 4 1/2 inches (142 x 115 mm); letterpress titles in English & French, no contents leaf, 30 hand-colored engraved plates after Faesch of which 6 are folding. Modern dark blue morocco binding with raised bands and gilt title, a.e.g. Original marbled wrappers bound in (rubbed). Slight rubbing to joints of binding, some light foxing and offsetting, but colors are bright and vibrant; two front pages detached.
[Bobins 558; Colas 3074; Cohen 1066; Rahir 683].
A very rare and visually striking theatrical plate book. This expanded English edition of Faesch’s celebrated series—first issued in France in 1765 with only 23 plates—contains a significantly enlarged suite of 30 engravings, here newly re-engraved and richly hand-colored. The plates depict named French and Italian actors and actresses in character in full-length, offering a vivid record of 18th-century performance and costume; a few captions include short excerpts of dialogue. Printed for Robert Sayer (1725 – 1794), the leading publisher and seller of prints, maps, and maritime charts in Georgian Britain, based on Fleet Street in London.
Extremely scarce, even as stated in the Bernard Quarich catalogues of 1901 and 1902, and the comprehensive "Book Sales of 1896". According to WorldCat, only two institutional copies are recorded, at the Morgan Library & Museum and Columbia University. A few of the individual plates, uncolored,from the Sayer edition, are to be found in collections including the British Museum.
Copies with such bright, well-preserved coloring are particularly uncommon on the market.
Johann Ludwig FAESCH, Swiss portrait painter and miniaturist, was also known as Faesch, Faesch, de Faesch and, pseudonymously, Whirsker and Whirsker.
During his visit to Paris in 1765, David Garrick was presented with a collection of miniature portraits by Faesch of actors at the Comédie-Francaise. The artist pursued the connection, arriving in London in May 1768 with an introduction to England's greatest actor and within two years saw the first series of his theatrical portrait engravings published by Sayer. He went on to portray many actors and actresses of the Comédie-Francaise and Comédie-Italienne in Paris and Drury Lane Theatre in London.
"Faesch is the first artist to be said with certainty to have drawn his subjects directly from actual performance." [Harvard Theatre Collection].
Condition: Very Good.
Item number: 1886
Price: $5,400.00
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