Antique book

[cassandrnal0]

Can anyone help with an antique book that I found.  It is French.     De. Th. Corneille.   P. Corneille is the author.  I have found several new versions of the book.  But not this one an is from the 1800's.   in french says 1st. Ed.   It is a book of plays.   It is only volume 1 of 2.  leather bound.   Some foxing an moisture damage.  But book binding is very tight and in decent condition.   It is actually signed by P. Corneille.   Any ideas of value, or where I might could go to find out.    I can honestly not find nother one like it.  Just recent printed copies. 

[zzydny]

The first thing to do, of course, is to Wikipedia P. Corneille.  It appears that he lived from 1606-1684.  Is your book that old?  Can you be sure the signatures is his?

The next place I'd head to is BookFinder.  However, if the book is indeed very, very old, you'd be hard-pressed to find a comparable there. 

That's as far as my know-how goes (which isn't far at all); you may need to contact an antiquarian book dealer for an appraisal and to identify that signature.  But a good appraisal will cost money.

[lyceumdreams]

post a picture of the title page if you want a proper id.

[taylor_memorial]

https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2013/06/11/pierre-corneille-french-playwright/

Yes, he's a 17th century playwright, so it is impossible for him to have signed a 19th century book.

It is possible this was held by one of his descendants.
Or it could be a facsimile signature, which has been popular for a long time.

As it is, right now, it's not worth much--one of two volumes, damaged but tight: a designer book or something for a scholar, perhaps. As a contemporary, more or less, with Shakespeare, there would be some scholarly market for a complete set.