GERMAIN, PIERRE. 1703-1783.


Elements d'orfevrerie divises en deuz parties de cinquante feuilles chacune. Paris: the Author, 1748. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to (280 x 204 mm). 2 engraved title pages, 100 engraved plates by Pasquier and Bacquoy after designs by Germain and Jacques Roettiers, 2 extra 18th century unsigned red chalk drawings loosely inserted. Modern fine red morocco gilt, blue morocco doublures, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Paper fault on lower corner margin of plate 63, minor browning.Provenance: Eduard Rahir (1862-1924), antiquarian bookseller (bookplate on verso of front blank); Jaime Ortiz-Patino (his sale, Sotheby's N.Y., April 21, 1998, lot 116).FIRST EDITION of an important record of French rococco silver designs. "Precieux recueil qui contient les plus beaux modeles d'argenterie parisienne du temps de Louis XV" (Cohen-de Ricci). Germain, known as "le Romain," came from Avignon and was not related to the better-known Germain family of silversmiths who were Orfevres du Roy. Berlin Katalog 1066; Cohen-de Ricci 429-430; Guilmard, p 175.