La Danse ancienne et moderne ou Traité historique de la danse - Cahusac, Louis de 1706-1759 (The Hague Neaulme, 1754)
Volume 1: Dance among the Ancients -- Volume 2: continuation of the same subject until the 17th century -- Volume 3: continuation of the same subject and opinions on the "ballet d'action", on Marie Sallé, on Jean-Baptiste Dehesse, on choreographic rules.
Louis de Cahusac was an 18th-century French playwright and librettist, and Freemason, most famous for his work with the composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.
This treatise on the history and aesthetics of dance was the first to consider dance in its technical, poetic and historical aspects, and it had a strong influence on Noverre's Lettres sur la danse. Cahusac was to re-use large extracts from his work during his participation in Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie (articles on ballet, singing, comedy-ballet, contredanse, etc.)
Leather bound, spine embossed in gold, colored edges
Keywords: 18th Century (1701-1800); Dance; Esthetics; History; Theater history; Ballet; France