1785 ❧ FÉNELON, FRANÇOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE. 1651-1715. Les Aventures de Télémaque. Paris: Imprimerie de Monsieur [Pierre-François Didot], 1785. 2 volumes, large 4to (350 x 267 mm). Engraved title page and 96 fine engraved plates after designs by Charles Monnet, engraved by Jean Baptiste Tilliard, all retaining their original protective tissue guards. Contemporary French presentation binding of full scarlet straight-grain morocco. The boards are elegantly decorated and framed with multiple complex gilt-rolled tools, highlighted by a Greek-key style 'T' pattern border configuration. The flat spines feature five pairs of faux raised bands, with each pair enclosing a wide gilt rule emphasized by unusual black tooling; the spine compartments are further decorated with undulant stippled lines extending from the corners to a beautiful centrepiece lyre motif, accented by a foliate chain decoration; elaborate gilt turn-ins, deep blue silk endpapers, and all edges gilt. THE MAGNIFICENT DIDOT TÉLÉMAQUE,' WITH THE ENTIRE SUITE OF 96 PLATES AFTER MONNET, ENCLOSED IN A REMARKABLE PRESENTATION BINDING OF CONTEMPORARY SCARLET MOROCCO. Originally written in 1699 as a utopian, educational mirror for the author's royal pupil-the young Duke of Burgundy (grandson of Louis XIV)- Les Aventures de Télémaque fills an essential chapter in the history of French literature, politics, and neoclassical philosophy. This spectacular 1785 edition represents a historic typographic and artistic milestone, printed under the expert direction of Pierre-François Didot (Didot le Jeune) utilizing newly manufactured, elegant types cast at the family's renowned foundry. To match the prestige of the publication, the edition was struck on luxurious, heavy 'papier vélin d'Annonay' named 'Nom-de-Jésus' and manufactured by the legendary Montgolfier papermaking family. The extensive, ambitious illustration cycle accompanying this edition represents the pinnacle of the career of celebrated royal book illustrator Charles Monnet (1732-1816). Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1771 and engraved by Jean Baptiste Tilliard by 1773, these masterful compositions were explicitly granted a grander, more spacious and elegant layout in this large-format edition. Cohen-de Ricci 384-86; Furstenberg Das Buch als Kunstwerk 130; Brunet II, 1215; and Graesse II, 565. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing