PAPILLON (Jean-Michel). Traité historique et pratique de la gravure en bois. Paris, Pierre-Guillaume Simon, 1766. 3 volumes in 2 volumes in-8, fawn calf, triple gilt fillet, smooth spine decorated in the grotesque style, interior lace, red edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this major treatise on wood engraving, consisting of a historical section, a technical section and a supplement bound after the second volume. It includes a portrait-frontispiece by Nicolas Caron, six plates showing the cameo technique (including a breakdown of colours), and numerous woodcut technical figures and ornaments in the text. Jean-Michel Papillon (1698-1776), a woodcut engraver from an illustrious line of Rouen artists, learned his art from his father, Jean II Papillon, and remained attached to the Imprimerie Royale for a long time. He did much to rehabilitate wood engraving, publishing this important treatise as well as several articles in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. He is sometimes confused with his half-brother Jean-Baptiste-Michel (1720-1746), whom he himself mentions in the work (I, 314). A few marginal annotations from the period and a handwritten crest attached to the frontispiece. Scattered foxing and spotting, heavy browning to one leaf (I, 421); splits to upper bindings, three headpieces worn.