As part of a collection of rare books devoted to ballet and dance, we offer here a two-volume (complete) set of

In 1789 Despreaux, a violinist and dancing-master, married Marie-Madeleine Guimard, one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the 18th century. His poem "L'Art de la danse," found in teh second half of Volume 2, is closly modelled on Boilaue's ART POETIQUE and is dividd into four cantos. The first includes a survey of the history of dance from Pierre Beauchamp to Gaetano Vestris, Jean Dauberval, and Pierre Gardel; the second presents the style and rules of French dance; the third treats theatrical dance and its three principal modes; the final canto focuses on pantomime, the ballets d'action and the skills that a dancing-master must posses. Many pages of historical and biographical notes accompany the poem, including a notation that Beauchamp gave a new form to dance-writing, which Thoinot Abeau had invented.