Lot 266: BOUZONNET STELLA, Claudine. After Jacques Stella Les jeux et plaisris [sic]

BOUZONNET STELLA, Claudine. After Jacques Stella Les jeux et plaisris [sic] de l'enfance. Paris [Claudine Bouzonnet Stella] 1657 [1637] 8vo oblong: 48 engravings (some foxing, lack of paper on a2 and c7). 18th or early 19th c. half sheep, sprinkled paper covers (edges and corners bumped, a few stains and repairs). Series of 48 engr. depicting traditional children's games by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella (1641-1697), niece of Jacques Stella and considered to be one of the most excellent engravers of the 17th c. Exceptional edition without any page numbering but with a complete list of signatures from a1 to f8, or 48 pl. in total. Compared to the numbered edition described by Weigert, our copy has neither a coat of arms, nor the pl. 2 "Le Dada" and pl. 27 "La Paume". One of the 2 pl. named "Le Sabot" by Weigert is entitled "Le volant". Also, the order of the signed plates is quite different from that of the edition with numbered plates. Given the perfect logical order of the signatures in our series, we are probably dealing with an early edition predating Weigert's 1st edition, numbered with 50 pl. While he mentions 1637 as date of the 1st ed., most editions are actually from 1657. Ref. Weigert, "Inventaire du fond français, graveurs du XVIIe siècle", II, pp. 78-92, n°48-99.