Les Souvenirs de Félicie L***. Par Mme de Genlis. Seconde Edition. Paris, Maradan, 1806.
Second Edition. 12mo, (168 x 88mm), pp. 394, in slightly later dark blue half morocco over green marbled boards, spine simply ruled and lettered in gilt, all edges green, with the ownership inscription ‘E. ? Nugent’ and the later bookplate of Anthony Surtees.
The first edition of this work was published by Maradan in 1804, although it had been serialised in the Bibliothèque des Romans and parts of it had been pirated and printed in various journals. It was enormously popular and ran to several editions. A continuation was published, also by Maradan, under the title Suite des Souvenirs de Félicie, Paris 1807. With a dedication to Madame de Genlis’ brother, the original preface to the 1804 edition in which she discusses the work’s early popularity and compares it to the Souvenirs of Madame de Caylus and of Madame Necker. It also includes the fictional introduction by the editor of the works of the late eponymous author.
‘Cet ouvrage superficiel et frivole n’est fait ni pour les penseurs ni pour les philosophes, mais il plaira peut-êtreà ceux qui aiment le naturel et la variété’ (Avertissement de l’Editeur des OEuvres posthumes de madame de L***, p. 11).
See Cioranescu 30650.