R.-A. Feuillet. Recueil de contredances, first edition, 1706

Feuillet, Raoul-Auger

Recueil de contredances mises en choréographie, Paris: author, 1706

FIRST EDITION, 16 leaves, 192 pages, 8vo (14.5 x 9.1cm), engraved music and dance notation, table and privilege at end, Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II B 21") to verso of title, contemporary mottled sheep, some very light worming to lower margins, browning, splitting to joints, with slight loss of leather at head of spine, lower outer corner of upper cover bumped

RARE. We have traced only one copy sold at auction in the last 40 years.

This is the first edition of the first manual printed in France describing English country dances ('contredanses' in French). Preceding the dances, including ten by Feuillet himself, is a 28-page preface containing detailed instructions and examples concerning Feuillet's system of dance notation, or choreography, with detailed notes on the position of the hands and feet. The popularity of this volume was such that a translation by the English dancing master and writer John Essex (For the Further Improvement of Dancing) was published only four years later, in 1710.

LITERATURE:

Gregory & Bartlett (Supplement), p.35; Hirsch, i 172; TNG, viii, p.751