A collection of sixteen engravings, including including one of twelve color plates, the Title of 1682 and other works in the definitive state by Jacque Leman and color illustration by Edmond Hedouin.

The collection is provided with complete provenance dating to its issue (including copy of original issuance certificate), the collection title page, publisher"s title page, a list of engravings and certificate of authenticity.

DON JUAN was produced at the Palais Royal, Paris, February 15, 1665, with Moliére playing the part of Sganarelle

Synopsis:
Don Juan is a graceless brigand of hearts, the despair of his servant, Sganarelle, and of his upright father who must repeatedly rescue him from some scrape. Don Juan's favorite method of procedure is to go through a secret mock marriage. This satisfies the girl yet leaves him legally free when he tires of her charms. His latest conquest is the beautiful Elvire whom he has enticed from a convent to "marry" him.

Now, in spite of Sganarelle's protests and warnings of Heaven's wrath, Don Juan has abandoned Elvire and is plotting to carry off the fiancée of a friend. With this purpose master and man embark in a small boat on the lake where the engaged couple have planned to go sailing. During a sudden squall, the small boat is overturned and both would have perished except for their timely rescue by a peasant. Scarcely are Don Juan's fancy clothes dried, before he is again at his lovemaking . . . this time proposing marriage to each of two peasant girls who fall to quarreling as to which of them will be favored. Sganarelle, sotto voice, informs them that his master will actually marry neither one.

At this point word reaches Don Juan that Elvire's brothers have sworn to kill him. Disguised beyond recognition, master and man set out to return to the city. On the way Don Juan rescues a stranger from robbers only to discover that he has saved the life of one of Elvire's brothers. Because of his vow of gratitude before he learns Don Juan's identity the stranger spares Don Juan's life for the nonce.

Once more on their way, Don Juan and Sganarelle come to the tomb of the Commandant who had been a recent victim. As a joke, Don Juan insists that Sganarelle must invite the statue to dinner. Sganarelle is frankly frightened and Don Juan is somewhat taken aback when the statue nods its acceptance and Sganarelle is terrified when at the dinner hour it actually appears. It is, the servant points out, a sign of Heaven's just wrath.

Heaven's wrath, however, does not concern Don Juan. It is his earthly troubles that decide him to pretend a conversion to religion. This hypocrisy proves the last straw for a long suffering Heaven. In the midst of his hypocritical cantings there is a great peal of thunder and Don Juan is swallowed up in a flaming abyss, leaving Sganarelle to remark:

"By his death everyone gets satisfaction. Heaven offended, laws violated, girls led astray, families dishonored, relatives outraged, wives ruined, husbands driven to despair, they all are satisfied. I am the only unlucky one. My wages, my wages, my wages!"

Don Juan: Act II, Scene V - Color Plate: Don Juan between Mathurine and Charlotte, in Italian costumes; Charlotte (to Don Juan):"What is it Mathurine wants with you?"

Don Juan: Title - An oblong cartouche accompanied by two candlesticks on brackets supported by melancholy heads of Charlotte and Mathurine. Above the centre of the cartouche stands Don Juan in the costume of a cavalier, holding his gloves in his right hand and his cane in the other.

Don Juan: Title of 1682 - A delineation by Jacque Leman, of the original Title of 1682 with architectural decoration. In each of the lower corners are little Imps with Satyr's feet, black wings, and little black hoods; who burn poor hearts in the flames, which escape from the fissures of the rocks of hel.

Don Juan: Dramatis Personé - Jacque Leman, as delineator, translates the original work of 1682, from the French, a listing of the cast of characters.

Don Juan: Act I - Charlotte and Mathurine are represented in the left and right sides of the frame with cupids looking down upon them.

Don Juan: Act I, Scene IV - Sganarelle and Don Juan; Don Juan: "Let us go and think of the execution of our amorous enterprise."

Don Juan: Act II, Scene III - Don Juan, Sganarelle, Pierrot and Charlotte near the sea-shore.

Don Juan: Act II, Scene V - Don Juan between Mathurine and Charlotte, in Italian costumes; Charlotte (to Don Juan):"What is it Mathurine wants with you?"

Don Juan: Act II, Scene VII - Charlotte, Mathurine, Sganarelle and Don Juan (in the background). Mathurine (to Don Juan): "My master is a knave."

Don Juan: Act III, Scene II - Don Juan, Sganarelle and a poor man in the frame, with cupids kissing armed huntresses outside the frame.

Don Juan: Act III, Scene II - Don Juan tries to induce the poor man to swear for the sake of money, saying: "Take it! Here it is! Take it, I tell you, but swear."

Don Juan: Act III, Scene VI - Don Juan, Sganarelle and the statue of the Commandant. Don Juan to Sganarelle: "Come, let us be gone."

Don Juan: Act IV, Scene III - Don Juan, M. Dimanche, Sganarelle, La Violette and Ragotin. (Don Juan to M. Dimanche): "No, I will not hear you if you do not sit down."

Don Juan: Act IV, Scene XII - The statue of the Commandant, Don Juan, Sganarelle, La Violette and Raqotin are in a dining room within the frame with two horn-blowing satyrs supporting same. Don Juan (to Sganarelle): "Take a light"

Don Juan: Act V, Scene V - The Ghost of Time, Don Juan and Sganarelle within the frame, with two cupids being cuddled by angels outside the frame.

Don Juan: Act V, Scene VII - Fini - Don Juan has passed on to the hereafter and Sganarelle stands alone mourning the loss of his benefactor - but more so - the loss of his wages. "Everyone is satisfied by his death... I alone am unhappy. My wages, my wages, my wages."