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The scarce first edition of this translation into Italian by an unknown female writer, ‘Madamigella ****’, of Jean Pey’s reworking of Young’s Night Thoughts, first published as Le Sage dans la solitude, Paris, Guillot, 1787. Pey’s original preface is included (in Italian), in which he explains the process of his translation and of how his original intention of presenting a simple translation came by degrees to be an almost entirely new composition, as he found passages that needed to be suppressed or remade, leaving little of the original work. He therefore decided ‘to make a new work, keeping the same titles, the same tone, and more or less the same order, inserting several passages [of Young’s] that seemed to merit inclusion’. Other prefatory material includes an editor’s note to the reader, speaking of the ‘cultured lady’ who made the translation in her ‘idle hours’, a letter from the lady accompanying her translation and two other letters written in response.
Jean Pey was a canon at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris who wrote a number of popular devotional works as well as several works of apologetics. As stated above, Pey has retained Young’s format for the present series of devotions, which comprise twelve meditations on spiritual subjects: God as eternal, omnipotent, God the creator, God as infinitely wise. Also as in Young’s original, the work is presented in two aspects, that of wakefulness and that of sleep. The female translator of the present work remains unidentified.
FirstSearch notes an earlier Italian translation by Lodovico Antonio Loschi, Il savio in solitudine, 1783, which it claims to be a translation of Pey’s work. However, the text of Loschi’s version is entirely different to the present work, which seems to be a direct translation of Le Sage dans la Solitude, ou Meditations religieuses sur divers sujets, par l’Auteur des Nuits d’Young, Londres 1771. As well as the different subtitle, this earlier French version does not have Pey’s name on the title-page and it seems likely that the FirstSearch attribution is erroneous.

First edition of Beckford’s wonderful letters from the Continent, written ‘in the bloom and heyday of youthful spirits and youthful confidence’ (Advertisement). The first volume focuses on his two visits to Italy, in a total of 31 letters, but it also contains thoughts on visits to Germany and the Low Countries, as well as to the French Alps, including a brief description of the Carthusian monastery la Grande Chartreuse. The second volume has 34 letters about Portugal and 18 letters about Spain.

'Had it been published as intended in 1783, instead of as late as 1834 in a revised version under the title Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, it would have been hailed as an ice-breaker, preparing the way for the nineteenth century's stylistic eclecticism' (Timothy Mowl, William Beckford, Composing for Mozart, 1998, p. 92).

First edition of Beckford’s wonderful letters from the Continent, written ‘in the bloom and heyday of youthful spirits and youthful confidence’ (Advertisement). The first volume focuses on his two visits to Italy, in a total of 31 letters, but it also contains thoughts on visits to Germany and the Low Countries, as well as to the French Alps, including a brief description of the Carthusian monastery la Grande Chartreuse. The second volume has 34 letters about Portugal and 18 letters about Spain.

'Had it been published as intended in 1783, instead of as late as 1834 in a revised version under the title Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, it would have been hailed as an ice-breaker, preparing the way for the nineteenth century's stylistic eclecticism' (Timothy Mowl, William Beckford, Composing for Mozart, 1998, p. 92).

A successful German work of Catechism and moral edification, in an exquisite early nineteenth-century Czech binding. First published in 1800, it was written by the Prague-born theologian Johann Joseph Natter, a talented author of devotional handbooks which were less heavily concentrated on the Scriptures, instead focussed on encouraging charity and a peaceful state of mind. The present work features prayers and meditations for each day of the week as well as for specific religious occasions, such as Communion. As a contemporary German periodical wrote of a later edition, ‘the form and the content justify the favourable reception it has obtained everywhere’ (Allgemeine Zeitung Munchen, 1830, 19)

A scarce little devotional manual for saying the Rosary, addressed to the Augsburg confraternity of the Brotherhood of the Rosary, an ancient confraternity originally founded in the late fifteenth century. Following the devotions on the Rosary are various prayers, litanies and hymns, including German versions of the Pange Lingua and the Salve Regina. A popular work to aid in private devotion, this was many times reprinted though it remains scarce in any edition. The verso of the title-page contains a printed form with gaps for filling in the date and devotional details of the reader. In this copy it has been completed in a contemporary hand, dated 1828.
For more information on the Marian cult in Augsburg, see Bridget Heal, The cult of the Virgin Mary in early modern Germany, Cambrige, 2007 and Anne Winston, Tracing the Origins of the Rosary: German Vernacular Texts, Chicago, 1993.

An attractive copy of this Rousseau inspired handbook for young women. First published in 1758 and a best-seller in France, Boudier de Villemert’s text discusses women's rank in society and suggests possible reforms to this. Neatly arranged in chapters by subject, it discusses the education of girls and their suitable occupations; it talks of luxury and dress, love, gallantry and marriage, condemning idleness and cosmetics and advocating maternal breast-feeding. It was published in English as The Ladies Friend, but not until 1766, which explains the English binding on this considerably earlier French edition.
‘Ce n’est ici ni une parodie, ni une imitation de l’Ami des Hommes. Cet Ouvrage a un caractère particulier, qui pourroit bien ne faire que de mauvais Copistes; mais il m’a fourni l’idée d’adresser aux Femmes quelques avis, & de discuter avec elles leurs propres intérêts. Il convenoit de prendre un ton moins haut, & d’aller, pour ainsi dire, terre à terre avec nos belles Philosophes... Je souhaite que ces idées de réforme ne leur déplaisent pas’ (Avertissement).

An attractive copy of a scarce anti-Jansenist work by the Catalan Jesuit Francesco Gusta who had moved to Italy following the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain. Gusta discusses the Synod of Pistoia of 1786 - ‘the most daring effort ever made to secure for Jansenism... a foothold in Italy’ (Catholic Encyclopedia) - and targets some of the leading figures involved. The Synod had been summoned by the Bishop of Pistoia, Scipione de’ Ricci, under whose influence a number of Enlightenment style decrees were adopted, only to be condemned by Pope Pius VI in his bull Auctorem difei, 1794. In this work Gusta attacks Ricci and the Jansenist theologian Pietro Tamburini for their part in the Synod. He concludes with a translation of the papal bull that ‘dealt the death blow’ to the influence of Jansenism in Italy.

A virulent satire against church and state, this work, first published in 1752, was seized on publication and the author was imprisoned in the Bastille. Written in the form of La Bruyère’s Caractères, the most outrageous attacks are on the Dauphin and the King himself but the work is far-reaching in the savagery with which swathes of society, including actors, bankers, magistrates, bishops and aristocrats, are targetted. Many leading figures are lampooned: Maupeou, who is ridiculed on account of his tyrannic wife, Helvetius, Samuel Bernard, the Duc de Richelieu, the Marquise de Pompadour and Quénay all fall under Génard’s ruthless satire.
The dedication is to 'la vertueuse et aimable mademoiselle F...L.D.', ie Françoise Le Duc. It is signed De Gran, which is of course an anagram of Genard. The first part has a lengthy and comic introduction entitled 'idée de l'auteur', in which Genard sketches the state of current literature and his chosen place within it. 'On a travaillé ici à tenter tous les goûts, à instruire tous les états, & à enlever le brut de tous les sentimens. Morale pure & délicate; critique fine & sans aigreur, Anecdotes curieuses & sans calomnie. Chacun doit y trouver de quoi lui plaire: car qui n'aime à s'instruire des vices d'autrui, & à les paraphraser?' (idée de l'auteur, p. xvii). Each of the three parts of the work have a 'Clef Naturelle' to the identity of the characters mentioned or satirised in the text.
Genard's work became extremely popular and was republished several times in French between 1752 and 1759. An English translation, The School of Man, a Moral, Critical and Anecdotal Work appeared in 1753 and ran to at least five editions. Genard also wrote a companion volume L'Ecole de la Femme, while he was in exile in Holland after his release from the Bastille. This was translated into English as The School of Woman: or, memoirs of Constantia. Addressed to the Duchess of ***, London 1753. Both works have also been attributed to Dupuis, a soldier in the guards, though Cioranescu thinks this is doubtful.

An early edition of this popular satirical and licentious novel which was first published under the title Tanzai et Neadarne, Histoire Japonoise, printed in ‘Pekin’, or Paris, in 1734. The narrative provides a thinly veiled satire on the Cardinal de Rohan and the Duchesse de Maine. It tells of the love story between Prince Tanzaï and Princess Néardarné. L’ecumoire, or Tanzaï et Néadarné, was widely criticised as a shocking demonstration of political and social criticism, and Crebillon was publicly shamed for being irreligious for, as well as criticising Cardinal Rohan, the novel is seen as an attack on the papal bull Ugenitis. Following the publication, Crebillon was imprisoned briefly in Vincennes. Despite this, the novel’s popularity gained him admittance to the salons of Paris. Orientalism was becoming very popular, and the libertine values and personal attacks found a ready audience in pre-revolutionary Paris.

A scarce satirical portrait of England by Ange Goudar, adventurer, government agent, writer, gambler, swindler and friend of Casanova. Intended as a sequel to his successful L’Espion chinois: ou, l’envoyé secret de la cour de Pékin, 1764, which exposed the corruption at the heart of the ancien régime in France, Goudar’s L’Espion françois à Londres, subjects English society, commerce and government to ruthless scrutiny. Alongside the biting satire comes a grudging admiration of some things English, in particular the promotion of industry, the recognition of the importance of America and the English Constitution, which he describes as ‘un superbe édifice’ (I, 47).
L’Espion françois à Londres first appeared in London, where it was published in instalments between 1778 and 1779, but no copies of this original periodical appear to have survived. The first book edition followed in 1779, printed in France under a false ‘Londres’ imprint, as here. It is very rare, with only a handful of known copies in institutions and no copies of either that or the present edition in auction records for the past thirty years. Mars describes the present edition as a Paris piracy, but suggests the possibility that Goudar himself may have had something to do with the printing of one or other of these editions. A contemporary account of the original London printing, which talks of Goudar’s ‘goût de terroir’, shows that the extant editions vary considerably from the original English printing.

First edition of a wide-ranging study of the arts by Pierre Estève, a medical doctor attached to the University of Montpellier and the author of numerous works on astronomy, music, language and aesthetics. Beginning with an examination of the nature of language, and the French language in particular, Estève proceeds to a detailed discussion of music, touching on its history, comparing ancient and modern taste in music and discussing the principles of melody, recitative and French opera, as well as dance and ballet. A final part is devoted to architecture, with specific reference to theatre architecture.
Bound after the work is Bauche’s extensive publisher’s catalogue, which lists some three hundred titles in the fields of philosophy, literature and science. This catalogue is of particular importance as many of Bauche’s publications were controversial and did not bear his name in the imprint. For example it was Bauche who published Diderot’s Lettre sur les Sourds et Muets, 1741, which was published with simply the date as imprint, but is openly listed here.
With attractive engraved vignettes on both title-pages, by Pierre-Alexandre Aveline (1710-1760). The first of these, which is unsigned, bears the inscription, ‘le plaisir des beaux Arts, est le plaisir des Sages’.

This scarce Dublin edition is one of three distinct English language editions of Voltaire’s wonderful conte philosophique to be published in 1768, each with a different collation and no mention of a translator’s name. The other editions were published in London by S. Bladon and in Glasgow by Robert Urie. Voltaire’s tale, which first appeared in 1767, is one of the great literary exemplars of the noble savage: the corruption and absurdities within French society are shown in stark contrast to the nobility of the eponymous hero, who reacts with simple directness to everything, with comic and tragic results.

A scarce classically-inspired ‘roman galant’ by the Poitiers-born soldier and novelist, Louis Moreau du Bail, and an early example of the genre. Du Bail’s prolific output, though not didactic, was intended as an inspirational and moral celebration of romantic love. About half of his thirteen known novels, including the present, have a classical inspiration, and many of these are notable for their strong heroines. In this novel, the heroine is modelled on the fictitious illegitimate daughter of King Henry III of France and tells the story of her two marriages, the betrayal by her second husband and her subsequent ruin, captivity and escape from execution. Not much is known about Du Bail, except that he was a soldier and a novelist: ‘Un écuyer poitevin de confession catholique, né certainement avant 1600, qui connut la vie militaire et a captivité: telles sont les maigres indications que nous pouvons ramasser’ (Alain Niderst). This is the sixth of his known thirteen novels, which were published between 1622 and 1646. ‘[Son] inspiration est toujours élévée. Il veut porter le lecteur au repentir, à la pénitence, à la retraite’ (Joseph Salvat in Dictionnaire des Lettres Françaises, XVII Siècle, 401).
This is a stunning copy from the libraries of the marquis de Tugny and, later, the duchesse de Gramont, bibliophile and patron of the arts whose library of some 3,000 volumes was dispersed during the French Revolution after she was guillotined. ‘En dehors d’éminentes qualités qui appartiennent à l’histoire, son goût pour les choses de l’art et le soin éclairé qu’elle apporta dans la composition de sa belle bibliothèque, la désignent encore à l’attention des curieux et des lettrés... Les livres de la ducesse de Gramont sont reliés simplement, mais avec une certaine élégance. Le soin avec lequel a été exécuté le corps d’ouvrage justifie l’empressement dont ils sont l’objet de la part des bilbliophiles et les prix quelquefois élevés qu’ils obtiennent’ (Ernest Quentin-Bauchart).

Provenance:
1. Joseph-Antoine Crozat, marquis de Tugny (1696-1751), this work no. 2426 in his catalogue and bearing his inscription, ‘Ex Bibliotheca D. Crozat’, on the verso of the title-page.
2. Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, duchesse de Gramont (1730-1794), with her arms on the binding.

The scarce first edition of a delightful attempt to reconcile biblical truths with modern enlightened philosophy, heavily influenced by the works of David Hartley. Presented in three books, addressing human existence, the passions and ethics. In the first section, human existence is divided into physical characteristics, the soul and the effects of original sin, in the second, the passions are deemed to include all human desires and temptations including love, ambition, the thirst for knowledge etc. In the final section, the author begins with a statement of the equality of man and goes on to discuss original sin and natural vices as well as more elevated things like art, culture, music and languages, as well as political power and the legal system.

Giuseppe Gorini Corio was a playwright and philosopher from Lombardy. His attempt to justify contemporary enlightened thought through the bible was sadly not met with the reaction he may have hoped for and this work was placed on the Index in 1759. Following this, a French translation appeared as L’anthropologie in 1761.

A scarce edition, possibly the first, of this jeux d'esprit by Poinsinet de Sivry. The phrase 'j'ai la berlue' translates roughly as 'I must be seeing things'; the title here serves to introduce the piercing sight of the author. Born in the middle of the night and kept in a darkened room for the first three weeks of his life, the author is free from that false sight which characterises most human beings. Therefore, in an age of telescopes, lunettes and microscopes, he alone possesses unimpeded natural sight. 'Les uns cherchent dans la lune des habitans qui n'y sont pas, les autres croient dans une mouche des beautés que le microscope y met; les Egyptiens trouvent Dieu dans un oignon; les Romains prennent l'amour-propre pour la vertu; les Zulins, le libertinage pour la liberté, la débauche pour la volupté. Le monde a-t'-il les yeux bien clarifiés?' (pp. 13-14). The dedication (signed 'XRDGISKNPMBF') is to the 'illustrious eagle', king of airy space whose vision pierces the clouds.
ESTC lists three different ‘Londres 1759’ editions. Priority has not been established, but the old adage of the greater number of pages would suggest this to be the first. Cioranescu gives priority to ESTC t200360 (pp. x, 124) which is held at the Taylorian, Texas and four copies at the BN. ESTC t230225 (pp. [vi], 160) is the scarcest of the three, with only two copies listed, at the Sorbonne and Toronto. The present edition, ESTC t128931 (pp. x, 166), is at the BL, Cambridge, Bodleian, Taylorian; two copies at the BN, four copies in Poland and Wisconsin-Madison, UCLA and Maryland only in America. The work later appeared as La Berlue, ou Nouvelles découvertes sur l’optique, Londres, 1760.

An excellent unsophisticated copy of this satirical treatise on syphilis (the ‘cacomonade’), inspired by the fourth chapter of Voltaire’s Candide. The work is a facetious history of syphilis from its introduction into Europe from America through to its prevalence in France in the eighteenth century. Whimsical reflections on the philosophical causes of syphilis are included, with a discussion of its presence among the ancients and the proposition that it may have been included among the sufferings of Job. Chapter VII contains the famous ‘Statuts données à un Couvent de Filles à Avignon, par la Reine Jeanne première’, with the text printed in parallel text giving the original Provençal and French, which argued for an end to prostitution through the establishment of a house of pleasure. The Statutes were for some time quoted as sound historical sources, but, according to Gay, were the invention of a group of Avignon citizens who composed them in archaic language and sent them to a Dr Astruc (d.1766), who believed in their authenticity and printed them.
‘Jusqu'en 1825, la Cacomonade n'a été considérée que comme une facétie inoffensive, ce qu'elle est réellement; mais, à cette époque, un jugement de la police correctionnelle à Paris, l'a flétrie comme outrageant les moeurs... Nous signalerons aussi une pièce curieuse contenue dans ce petit ouvrage, ce sont les statuts donnés par la reine Jeanne à un couvent de filles à Avignon, statuts qui ont été, à diverses reprises, cités comme sérieux par les auteurs graves’ (Gay I, 446).

The first edition of Restif’s first published work, an epistolary novel in four volumes. It is not a translation from the English, as claimed on the title-page in fashionable style, but is an original work about an aristocratic family and their adventures in France and England. It is printed by Quilleau, for whom Restif worked as a proof-reader and compositor, and is the first of several novels that Restif managed to get printed during his time there. It made him a profit of 765 livres and it was on the strength of this that he left the printing house and started writing professionally.
The Epître (pp. v-xiv) is addressed ‘Aus [sic] Jeunes Beautés’ and is followed by a prefatory ‘Lettre de Mistress Eleanor à Miss Bridget’ (xv-xxxvi) in which Eleanor explains how she came by the letters. Travelling between Kent and Hampton Court, her father was set upon by some vagabonds and would have perished but for the intervention of Lord B*. As usually follows in these situations, Eleanor’s simple delight at her father’s safety delighted Lord B* who suggests that she become a companion for his daughter, Miss Cecily. Cecily is a descendant of the comte de Lisse, one of the main protagonists in the unhappy story that follows and Cecily, enraptured by her new friend, gives her all the letters with a view to her arranging and publishing them.
The title pages are set within the typical Restif ornamental printed borders. Rives Childs (197-198) states that 2000 copies were printed - an impressive number for a first work and a sure sign of Restif’s involvement in the printing process - nonetheless the novel is now hard to come by and is comparatively scarce.

An enormously successful parody of Voltaire’s Henriade, first published in Berlin in 1745 and frequently reprinted. ‘Cette facétie renferm bien des passages qui sont de notre domaine’ (Gay II, 461).

The first French translation of this interesting anti-Jesuit pamphlet, originally published in Latin as Monarchia solipsorum in Venice in 1645. Written under the pseudonym Lucius Cornelius Europeus, this satire exposes the vices of the Order. For a long time attributed first to the Jesuit, Melchior Inchofer, it is now generally thought to be by Giulio Clemente Scotti, a disaffected Jesuit said to have been unfairly overlooked for the post of professor of Theology by his superiors. The work attacks the corruption, lies and calumny perceived at the heart of the order as well as criticising the worldly strategy of appointing only young men from wealthy families in order to benefit the society in the long term. It is preceded by an introduction which provides details on Inchofer and the political background of the satire. The Jesuits searched everywhere for this book in order to suppress it. The translation and the prefatory remarks are by Pierre Restaut (1696-1764).

A very scarce early edition of Coyer's famous work, one of several published the same year as the first edition, bound together with three other related works. Coyer’s argument that the French nobility should take charge of commercial enterprises provoked widespread debate and numerous printed responses. The present copy is bound with two attacks on Coyer’s work and Coyer’s subsequent defence of his position. The first attack is the chevalier d’Arcq’s La Noblesse Militaire, a refutation of Coyer’s work, in which he argues that the natural profession of nobility is military. 'Ne pas écarter la noblesse de sa vocation propore qui est l'art militaire. Par ailleurs, le développement de notre commerce a des limites.' (JNED). The second attack is the less well-known Le Commerce Ennobli by an obscure writer called Seras, the crux of whose argument is the indigence of the nobility: ‘La Noblesse, comme les corps organisés, perd sans cesse par la dissipation; il lui faut de même un suc nourricier qui répare ses pertes. Si elle dissipe & ne répare pas, elle deviendra un corps fantastique & sans force’ (pp. 16-17).
The final work in this collection is the first edition of Coyer’s Développement et Défence du Systeme de la Noblesse Commerçante, the defense that he wrote against the many criticisms of his system and particularly against the Chevalier d'Arcq's La Noblesse Militaire. ‘Plus littéraire qu'économique. Ce 'système' peut parfaitement exister dans le royaume ; il y va du plus grand intérêt de la France, tant au point de vue du commerce et de l'agriculture que de la population’ (INED, 1227).