A wonderful and very collectible copy of Catherine de Medicis by Henri Bouchot. A First Edition published by Goupil & Company, Paris and numbered 516 of 1000 copies on handmade paper by Blanchet Frères et Kléber. Text in French. This lavishly illustrated thick folio is exquisitely bound by master French bookbinder, Lucien Durvand (1852 – 1924), known for his elaborate gilt application, tooling and design work.  Folio- Tall 4to.  (14 x 11 x 2.5"), 181 pages - Hand–colored frontispiece heightened in gilt, 40 photogravures printed in grisaille, sepia and sanguine, several in color, all in two states and each with tilted tissue guards. Contemporary full burgundy levant, elaborately gilt tooled covers with strapwork, fleur–de–Lys, and a central roundel with Catherine and Henry II’s conjoined ciphers within a wreath of twined olive branches and a banderole bearing Catherine’s motto “Bringing light and peace of mind” in Greek, the ciphers repeated at corners, the spaces between filled with gilt pointillism patterns, 6 compartments with 5 raised bands gilt, 4 compartments with the conjoined cipher centerpieces within a gilt tooled semé pattern, the remainder gilt–titled, top edge gilt, others uncut, marbled endpapers, gilt dentelles, Signed within the gilt rule of the lower front and rear covers "DURVAND.REL" and stamped "Durvand" on the verso of the front decorated flyleaf. Light wear to the edges with some rubbing to the leather corners and spine tips and a small crack to the leather of the rear central roundel. A few interior pages are roughcut and uneven along the lower edge with some heavy foxing to a number of pages as is usual. Overall, an outstanding copy of the Goupil 1899 first edition in the sought after Durvand binding.