SACRE DE LOUIS XV (Le), roy de France et de Navarre, dans l'église de Reims, le dimanche 25 octobre 1722. S.l.n.d. [Paris, 1731]. Large folio, blue morocco, large frame of repeated gilt plaques, coat of arms in the centre of the boards, spine decorated with a crowned numeral, interior lace, gilt edges (Padeloup). First edition of this magnificent fully engraved work. This majestic volume celebrating the coronation of Louis XV contains a title-frontispiece, 9 double-page plates by Audran, Beauvais, Cochin père, Larmessin, Tardieu, Edelinck and others, and 30 single plates showing the ceremonial costumes of the king and the great officers of the crown, mostly executed after Pierre Dulin and Pierre-Josse Perrot. The text, composed by Antoine Danchet and published under the direction of Abbé Jean-Paul Bignon and Claude Gros de Boze, occupies 34 engraved pages, decorated with rich borders, cartouches and fleurons, including the double-page table. "This book is a dazzling example of eighteenth-century art, and one that must be opened if one wishes to appreciate the pomp and grandeur of a ceremony such as the coronation of a king" (Bulletin Morgand, 1884, no. 9546). The edition was printed at the expense of the king, who reserved all copies for himself to give to those he wished to honour. A present copy bound by Padeloup in blue morocco with the arms and cipher of Louis XV. The gilding of this binding was specially designed by the king's bookbinder, who used the four-plate (type B) frame. It was a gift from François-César Le Tellier, marquis de Courtanvaux, comte de Tonnerre and duc de Doudeauville (1718-1781) to his son Charles-François-César Le Tellier (1734-1764), marquis de Courtanvaux and marquis de Montmirail, colonel of the Cent-Suisses and honorary member of the Académie royale des sciences in 1761, with this handwritten note on the verso of the first blank page: Ce livre appartient à monsieur de Courtanvaux mon fils. Outer margins of first two leaves reinforced. Minor rubbing to spine, lower headpiece restored. Trace of a bookplate removed. Debure, n°5452 - Berlin Kat., n°3009 - Brunet, V, 19 - Cohen, 917 - Vinet, n°516 - Ruggieri, n°546.