Premier – (II.me) recueil de chiffres inventés par de Saint Aubin, dessinateur du roi. by Saint-Aubin, Charles Germain de - (1766): 2 parts (= all published)

13 numbered etched plates by Clément-Pierre Marillier after Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin, all beautifully handcoloured, published in two suites the first comprising 7 plates, the second 6 plates. Loosely contained in cont. yellow brushed stiff wrappers. Folio (435 x 315 mm).


Guilmard, p. 211 (no date); Berlin Cat. 5297 (no date); Émile Dacier. Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1929), vol. I, 12. First edition, etchings in subtle yet brilliant contemporary coloring show highly imaginative initals and monograms. Slight soiling to margins and a few short tears in front margins of plates, but not touching platemarks, a beautiful flower ABC. "For more than two centuries, from the end of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth, the Saint-Aubin family constituted a veritable dynasty of embroiderers, engravers and artists serving the French monarchy. Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin (1721-1786), was the eldest son of the Brodeur du Roy, Gabriel Germain, and himself became 'Dessinateur du Roy pour la broderie et la dentelle' to Louis XV. … Other works by Charles Germain at Oak Spring, such as "L'art du brodeur" and "Premier recueil de chiffres" both pulished in Paris in 1770 (!) confirm that he was one of the most celebrated floral decorators of his time, …" (Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi. An Oak Spring Flora, pp. 240-245).