Pierre DIDOT (1761-1853). L.S. "PDidot l'aîné" with 4 autogr - Lot 195

Pierre DIDOT (1761-1853). L.S. "PDidot l'aîné" with 4 autographed lines, 14 frimaire XII [6 décembre 1803], to Messieurs Giguet, Michaud et Compie; 2 pages in-4, addressed. Interesting letter from the famous printer to the booksellers N. Giguet and Louis-Gabriel Michaud (1773-1858), concerning the sale of the 23 engravings by Gérard and Girodet, illustrating the in-folio Virgil, part of the Louvre Collection, and published in 1798 in only 250 copies, using the new typefaces cast by his brother Firmin. "We are in agreement with regard to the transfer or sale you wish me to make of a certain number of copies of the figures of my Virgil in-folio; apart from one point only, that of the time of payment, for which I invariably requested that of six months, unless you prefer to divide the sum into three equal payments, namely three, six, nine; or 7, 8, 9; the said bills to be provided on delivery of the figures into your hands"... [Giguet and Michaud intended to publish a French Virgil (translated by Abbé Delille), using the illustrations from 1798. The latter did indeed appear in 1806, explicitly mentioning that Gérard and Girodet's compositions "had been made after the 250 of Didot l'aîné's edition of the Virgile in-folio"].