Beschreibung:

[Livre de Fêtes] Description des festes données par la ville de Paris, à l'occasion du mariage de Madame Louise-Elisabeth de France, & de Dom Philippe, Infant & Grand Amiral d'Espagne.Paris, P.G. Le Mercier, 1740.
First edition of one of the most lavish livres de fêtes of the 18th century including an illustration of spectacular fireworks over the Seine. 
2° (625 x 467 mm – 24 4/₆ x 18 3/₆ in). Contemporary French red morocco, roll-tooled border composed of palmettes and fleurs-de-lys, at centre gilt arms of Dauphin Louis of France, spine gilt in compartments with fleur-de-lys, gilt edges. Minor restorations.Rubbed spine-ends, joints and corners. One corner heavily dulled, three joints split over 4 cm. Some stains on covers. Minor foxing in the text. Some plates slightly repaired.Finely bound in contemporary red morocco with the arms of the Dauphin Louis of France (1729-1765), son of Louis XV and brother of the bride Elisabeth of France. He died prematurely and never reigned, but fathered three kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X.
From the library of Baron Alexis de Redé, former occupant of the Hôtel Lambert, who remained famous for his memorable luncheons and dinner parties on the hotel’s ground floor.
First edition, illustrated with a large fleuron on the title engraved by Soubeyran after Bouchardon and a head-piece designed and engraved by Rigaud, 13 engraved plates or plans (8 of them on double page) designed by Blondel, Gabriel, Salley and Servandoni and engraved by Blondel.
This sumptuous book presents the celebrations organised for the marriage by proxy, on 26 August 1739, of Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV, to the second son of Philip V of Spain. The twelve-year-old princess did not see her husband for the first time until a few weeks later on Spanish soil. The actual wedding took place on 25 October. The festivities were orchestrated by the Florentine architect Servandoni and took place on an artificial island built between the Pont Royal and the Pont Neuf in front of the Louvre. Sixty illuminated boats gave the signal for the fireworks and a mock-naval battle with “sea monsters”.
ProvenanceBaron Alexis de Redé (armorial bookplate);Léon Gruel (bookplate);Alde Paris, 13 December 2011, lot n° 44;Sylvain Lévy-Alban, 2012.
LiteratureCohen, 288.Cicognara, 1507.Mourey, Le Livre des fêtes françaises, 210-222.____________________________________________
Description des festes données par la ville de Paris, à l'occasion du mariage de Madame Louise-Elisabeth de France, & de Dom Philippe, Infant & Grand Amiral d'Espagne.Paris, P.G. Le Mercier, 1740.
Bel exemplaire aux armes du dauphin Louis de France.
ProvenanceBaron Alexis de Redé (ex-libris armorié);Léon Gruel (ex-libris);Alde Paris, 13 décembre 2011, lot n° 44;Sylvain Lévy-Alban, 2012.
BibliographieCohen, 288.Cicognara, 1507.Mourey, Le Livre des fêtes françaises, 210-222.