BERAIN (Jean, le père). Ornemens inventez par J. Berain. Paris, Thuret aux Galleries du Louvre, s.d. [circa 1711]. Oblong folio, 53 x 37 cm (sheet), brown marbled calf, triple cold fillet, ornate ribbed spine, red title page, red edges (Rel. du XVIIIe). Superb collection containing 93 plates by Jean Berain (on 89 leaves including the title, some plates with numbers or letters added later to clarify the division into series), engraved by Jean Dolivar, Gérard Scotin, Jean-François Benard, Marguerin Daigremont, J. and P. Lepautre. Collation: engraved title in frame, 7 pl. of ceilings, 3 pl. of torchères, 1 temple, 1 pl. of door tops, 1 walking scene, 13 pl. of large decorative panels with arabesques, 1 pl. of cornices, 4 pl. of elaborate grilles, 2 pl. of large decorative panels with fools and fauns, 1 allegorical scene with banquet, 25 pl. of large decorative panels, 4 pl. of consoles, commodes and goldsmith's pieces, 18 pl. of fireplaces including one engraved title (Desseins de cheminées dediez à Monsieur Jules Hardouin Mansart. Paris, Thuret aux Galleries du Louvre), 6 plates of lintels and capitals, 3 plates of cartels and vases, 1 plate of arms, 1 plate of candlesticks. This collection of plates by Jean Berain (1640-1711) - famous draughtsman of the Chambre and Cabinet of Louis XIV - was published by his son-in-law Jacques Thuret (1682-1738): the latter purchased the copperplates and composed this edition, sometimes adding a number, a portrait and a few plates to the plates. The number of plates varies from copy to copy, ranging from around 50 to 150. Prestigious provenance: - armorial bookplate of Russian Count Nicholas Aleksandrovich Kouchelev-Bezborodko [гербовый экслибрис русского графа Николая Александровича Кошелева-Безбородко] (St. Petersburg 1834-1862), with his bookplate on the first plate ; and each subsequent plate bears the stamp with the three Cyrillic letters КНБ (his initials: Kouchelev Nikolai Bezborodko). Grandson of the famous Russian collector Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko (1747-1799) [protégé of Catherine II, Grand Chancellor of the Russian Empire, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1797 to 1799], he greatly expanded his grandfather's collection, which he inherited: paintings, sculptures, books and prints by foreign and Russian masters. He enriched the St Petersburg public library, and his personal library became part of that of the collector A. A. Polovtsov. - Engraved monogram bookplate of the collector Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov [Экслибрис гравированный с монограммой коллекционера Александровича Половцова] (1832-1909), member of the Imperial Government, and founder of the Imperial Russian Historical Society. Sale catalog, I, Nov. 14-16, 1910, no. 124. - Provenance Stéphane Boudin. Old restorations to the binding, very worn, with epidermal marks, split hinges, dull headpieces and corners. Spotting, marginal dampening. Millard, French Books, 19: "c. 1709".