Paris : Chez Urbain Coustelier. 1727. First Edition
2 vols, cr. 8vo, eng. frontis., title in red and black, A-Y8, Z2 (Y8 blank) + title in red and black, A-S8, T3, (lacking final blank), contemporary sprinkled calf, spines gilt with morocco labels, edges sprinkled red, signature “Bateman” on both titles, a good sound copy
The author was for a time ‘president du conseil de commerce’ at Dunkerque, but in 1714 retired to Paris where he became a member of the infamous Societe du Temple, a dining club much given to carousing and debauchery. It was after such a dinner that, one dark night in Montmartre, he was shot dead by a footpad intent on stealing his money. Some of his work was considered good enough to be attributed to La Fontaine, but as is pointed out by Gay / Lemmonyer “Vergier est plus immoral, plus obscene”, although “Son libertinage n’est pas sans grace”. He was called “the French Anacreon” by Rousseau on account of his drinking songs, none of which were thought to have survived until recently when a manuscript notebook was discovered. (See Justin Croft Catalogue of French Books and Manuscripts January 2012 item 79)
Reference: COPAC locates but 3 copies, BL, Oxford and Manchester
NOT IN Cioranescu who notices only the Rouen 1743 edition