François And Tabouillot - History Of Metz Of The Benedictine Religious. 1769, Bindings Of Time.

FRANÇOIS (Dom Jean), TABOUILLOT (Dom Nicolas) - History of Metz by Benedictine monks of the congregation of S. Vanne, members of the Royal Academy & of Arts of the same city. Metz, Nancy, Chez Pierre Marchal, then Collignon, then Haener, 1769; in-4, , period binding in full marbled calfskin, spine decorated with 5 raised bands, red title label, bottle green volume number, edges painted red, caps of the first volume missing. The 4 volumes. Essential work on the city of Metz printed in Nancy by Lamort then by Haener (volume 1 gives the printer Lamort as the place of printing, the two following volumes give Collignon in Metz and finally our volume 4 indicates Haener in Nancy). Complete with its plates, but volumes 5 and 6 are missing, so rare that copies on the market in 4 or 5 volumes sell perfectly well and at good prices. Our copy has the advantage of being complete with its plates as well as the historical part, and of being in good condition and bound from the period. Volumes 5 and 6 of evidence are always the hardest to find. We find traces in many booksellers' catalogs before the 1950s of their visit to them, but almost always in three, four, at best five volumes and almost never in 6 volumes as should be the case. This History of Metz was published volume after volume, starting in 1769. It is a monumental work which encountered many difficulties in its appearance, the main one being financing, hence the number of different publishers.