Collectible - Very Good

[Kehl, Germany]: La Société Littéraire Typographique, 1785. No additional printings. 70-volume set, with 69 of 70 volumes present. 8vo full-leather hardcovers in early mottled brown leather. A thin blind-stamped line outlines each board, and the board edges are decorated with a thin gilt line. Five raised bands to spine, recorated with small vertical lines. Gilt devices of flora enclosed in a box to the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth compartments. Author and series volume number gilt stamped in a gilt box on a brown leather label to second compartment. Work title and part gilt stamped in a gilt box on red leather label to third compartment. These labels have been reversed on Volume 30, with the author and volume on red in the second compartment, and title and part number on brown in the third compartment. Page edges speckled, and endpapers marbled, with swirls of pink, blue, yellow, and white. French. A frontispiece engraving in volume one, after the painting by Nicolas de Largillière, depicting Voltaire at 24 years old; another in volume 16, after the portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour; a frontis diagram of a battlefield in volume 24; 14 pages of plates at the rear of volume 31; frontis engraving of a marble bust to volume 32. Very good+. Volume 28 lacking. Spine tips slightly worn on many volumes, and corners gently bumped and rubbed; the leather has been eroded very slightly at some corners, and a few volumes are rather more edgeworn, with scrapes to board edges. Top fore-corner of volume 50 front board worn. Spines a bit rubbed and creased, with some volumes clearly better loved than others; the high points of the raised bands have been somewhat more rubbed in a few spots. The volume number label has been detached from volume 7 and laid in, and the work title label has been chipped on volume 2, detached from volume 24 and laid in, and lost from volume 32. Some joints have very small cracks at the tips, but the leather remains firm and supple. Volume 35 front joint cracked. A few volumes have suffered some scrapes to the boards, a gouge to the front of volume 25, and there is a very small spot of worming each to the front board of volume 17 and the rear of volume 18, but the leather is otherwise smooth. Page edges slightly toned; dampstaining and spotting to the edges of several volumes. Volume 70 spine cracked, and pages 165-172 loose, but don't appear ever to have been sewn in. Some very occasional isolated spots of foxing throughout, but interiors are clean, bright, and very near fine. The attached rubbon bookmarks are present and intact in almost all volumes and, although the exposed tips have faded, that portion of the ribbon inside of the books remains a vibrant salmon pink. The gilt, too, is bright and has been rubbed away only partially on the raised bands; it remains fully present everywhere else. The bindings are tight and hinges firm, and a few pages remain unopened. An incredible copy of the famous unexpurgated Kehl Voltaire, printed in Germany in order to escape the censorship of pre-revolutionary France. Inquire if you need further information.