The Praise of Paris: Or, a sketch of the French capital; in extracts of letters from France, in the summer of 1802; with an index of many of the convents, churches, and palaces, not in the French catalogues, which have furnished pictures for the Louvre-Gallery.

London: Printed by and for C. and R. Baldwin, New Bridge-Street, 1803.

Octavo (22.5 x 14.3 cm.), x, 180, [2], 183-186. Index. Illustrated with engraved frontispiece, one engraved vignette to the text, woodcut finispiece. FIRST EDITION. Weston (1747-1830) was an antiquarian and classical scholar who wrote some fifty books, including various editions of Persian poetry, commentaries on Shakespeare, and several studies of classical architecture; notably he produced the first English translation of the Rosetta Stone, presented verbally at a Society of Antiquaries meeting in 1802. As a young man he accompanied Sir Charles Warwick Bampfylde of Devon as his tutor on his tour of the continent. "As a result of this tour he conceived a passion for travel and a particular love for France and, especially, for Paris. He was in Paris during the revolution of 1791 and 1792, but thought it expedient to leave the city rather than take unnecessary risks. He returned to Paris in 1802, and this visit too was celebrated by a publication, The Praise of Paris [which prompted] a contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine to write that although 'as an archaeologist he may have had something to learn, his little book is vividly written, and his descriptions as clean cut as a cameo’” ODNB (N&Q, 27). An excellent, tall copy, untrimmed, in printer’s binding, one-quarter textured green cloth over pale gray-blue cloth. “Fermor’s Sketch of Paris” in ink to front board. [OCLC locates thirteen copies]. Ownership inscription to title page, “T.H. Fermor”(?), and ink annotation to foot of title page, “x le muse". Ex-Libris stamp to free front endpaper, "Delawanna, Geo. B. Mason, Passaic Co., N.J.” Mason was a significant philatelist. Handsome orange bookseller ticket to front paste-down, "Harding, Bookseller & Stationer, 36 St. James’s Strt. Books elegantly bound."

Price: $300.00

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