The first edition of La Marseillaise, with an autograph disp - Lot 326

The first edition of La Marseillaise, with an autograph dispatch from the author.ROUGET DE L'ISLE, Claude Joseph. Essays in verse and prose. Paris, de l'Imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné, an V de la République, 1796. In-8°, 157 pp. Green half-basane with corners, romantic long spine, garnet morocco title page, marbled edges (Binding circa 1830).One of the very rare copies of this original edition, featuring La Marseillaise in its original state: it comprises six quatrains, as written by Captain Rouget de l'Isle for the Army of the Rhine in April 1792. The copy is enriched with an autograph dispatch from the author "to citoyen Mathieu". The engraving by Charles-Etienne Gaucher after Jean-Jacques Le Barbier has been replaced by the frontispiece engraving by Bréval after the medallion by David d'Angers. [Following:] 3 melodies for voice and piano, handwritten: Le Retour de la Sentinelle. Romance. [poem by L. Brault] 5 pp. Lamante abandonnée. Romance. 4 pp. "Quelle folie de s'engager..." [What folly to commit oneself...]. 5 pp. on blue paper [Bound in suite:] Chant de l'Hymne à l'Espérance. 5 pp. engraved by Richomme. 1 blank f. [Bound at the end:] LE BRUN. Republican Odes to the French People, composed in Brumaire, Year II. [...] précédées de l'Ode patriotique sur les évènemens de l'année 1792 [...]. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale des Lois, An III [1795]. 50 pp. Some rubbing to binding. An exceptional copy.