MARIETTE, Pierre-Jean. Traité des pierres gravées. À Paris, de l'Imprimerie de l'Auteur, 1750. In 2 volumes in-4, hardback. 5 ff.n.ch. and 468 pp. ; 2 ff.n.ch., XII, 3 ff.n.ch., 132 pp., 2 ff.n.ch. and 62 engraved plates hors-texte. 3 engraved titles, 5 vignettes, and a total of 197 plates containing 259 subjects engraved by the comte de Caylus after drawings by Bouchardon, including a folding plate in Tome I, several bandeaux and culs-de-lampe. Tears to spines and headpieces, covers faded and browned in places, some seams loose. Pale and rare freckling. First edition of the first work devoted to antique gems, then in great vogue, by engraver and collector Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774). The study provides a description of engraving practice and a summary of scholarship on the subject (Volume I), as well as an illustrated catalog of the gems in Louis XV's collection (Vol. 2). The set is illustrated with 3 engraved titles, 5 vignettes and 197 plates containing 259 subjects engraved by the comte de Caylus after drawings by Bouchardon, including a beautiful fold-out plate in Volume I depicting the gemstone engraver in his cabinet with numbered figures of his instruments. Rare work, complete in 2 volumes, very fresh inside.