VIE DE STE. CATHERINE D'ALEXANDRIE par Jean Mielot, l'un des secrétaires de Philippe le Bon, duc de Bourgogne, texte revu et rapproché du français moderne par Marius Sepet Mielot, Jean Catholicism

Lavish life of Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the Roman emperor Maxentius. Printed by A. Quantin: Paris. Small quarto: 342 pp. with the frontispiece and 10 full-page plates, all chromolithographs with tissue guards, by Becquet and Lemercier et Cie., after Daumont, Léveil, and Urrabietta, as well as 14 full-page plates with tissue guards, all wood engravings with buff backgrounds, by F. Meaulle, and 23 full-page plates, and numerous text illustrations, all photo engravings after Th. Chafranski, Garcia, Paul Gillard, Ch. Goutzwiller, Grasset, A. Lemot, Henri Lepind, Morel, Pfnor, Urrabietta, et al. The photo-engraved plates and all text pages feature decorated page borders printed in crimson. The title page is printed in crimson and black. In the publisher's red morocco over red pebble-grain cloth binding designed by Auguste D. Souze, with black and gilt-stamped ruled borders, knotwork and foliate decorations, initial "C" framing central vignette of an angel shattering wheels before a kneeling Saint Catherine, and uncial titling on the front panel; five raised bands, gilt-stamped ruled bands, foliate compartments, and uncial titling on the spine; and black and gilt-stamped ruled borders, knotwork and foliate decorations, and central, circular foliate device with titling on the rear panel. All edges gilt, with bright blue coated endpapers with a silver-printed net pattern, and circular vignettes on the front flyleaf and rear pastedown, and a red silk ribbon. A striking example, far better than very good. Provenance: from the Publishers' Bookbindings collection of Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin.