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  • Le Soupé des petits-maîtres, by CAILHAVA, Jean-François de l'Estendoux (1731-1813).
    CAILHAVA, Jean-François de l'Estendoux (1731-1813).
    Le Soupé des petits-maîtres, Ouvrage Moral. Première [-Seconde] Partie. ‘Londres’, ie Paris, circa 1772.

    First Edition. 12mo (164 x 90 mm), pp. xxiv, [25]-144; vi, [7]-104, text damp-stained and browned in part, in a modern pastiche binding of blue quarter calf over blue boards, spine gilt in compartments, lettered in gilt, inscribed in a contemporary hand on both title-pages ‘Cte de Cunha, Liva de Bulhaco

    The very rare first edition of one of the most popular humorous books of the French eighteenth century which saw at least half a dozen… (more)

    The very rare first edition of one of the most popular humorous books of the French eighteenth century which saw at least half a dozen reprints in the eighteenth century and was reprinted by Pierre-Charles Monselet in 1881. The introductory material - introduction, épitre dédicatoire, envoi and avant-propos - describe with gusto the final stages of the work's production. Reading aloud to himself the final phrases of his work, an abbot, looking like a four-foot doll, smiles at the charm of his own work and at how popular it will be with the ladies. He preens himself happily before visiting a young countess to whom he begs leave to dedicate the work.
    The work itself is a series of tales and anecdotes, romantic stories interwoven with satirical comment and brief comic interludes, very much like a modern day comedy show with improvisations and narrative serials. The titles of the various chapters give some idea as to the satirical, lively and mildly libertine nature of the work: 'le Labyrinthe', 'le faux Milord', 'le Malade Imaginaire', 'l'Actrice de Province raconte son Histoire', 'Des Boudoirs consacrés à la Volupté' and 'Des Boudoirs consacrés à l'Intérêt'.
    'Cet ouvrage moral est le récit d'une partie fine, où chacun raconte son histoire. Les personnages s'appellent Persac, Sainval, le Président, la Bouquetière, la Marchande, la Danseuse, etc. C'est très gai', says Gay, adding, that Cailhava had so much success with the work that he almost immediately reissued it under the title Le Soupé, conte moral.

    MMF 70.32; Gay III 1139 (a detailed entry: 'livre rare et curieux pour l'histoire des moeurs du XVIII siècle'). Neither Cioranescu (who lists a Soupir, ouvrage moral, Londres 1772, no. 15126) nor Quérard, who calls Cailhava 'un des meilleurs auteurs comiques de son temps', list this work.

    ESTC t1330851, listing the British Library, Taylorian and Illinois only. A later edition is also listed under the title Le Soupé, ouvrage moral, [1780?], at the Taylorian and Stanford only.

    View basket More details Price: £850.00
  • THIEBAULT, Dieudonné (1733-1807).
    Mes Souvenirs de vingt ans de séjour à Berlin; ou Frédéric le Grand, sa famille, sa cour, son gouvernement, son Académie, ses écoles, et ses amis littérateurs et philosophes; par Dieudonné Thiébault, de l’Académie Royale de Berlin, de la Société libre des Sciences et Arts de Paris, etc. Seconde Edition, revue et corrigée. Tome Premier [-Cinquième]. Frédéric le Grand. Paris, Buisson, 1805.

    First Edition. Five volumes, 8vo (190 x 115 mm), pp. [viii], xlvii, [i], [49]-372, [4]; [iv], 375, [1]; [iv], 383, [1]; [iv], 331, [1]; [iv], 426, final gathering of volume four misbound; signed by the publisher and author, in contemporary half calf over pale speckled boards, orange and black morocco labels and numbering pieces, black morocco labels lettered in gilt ‘Pillet Will’ at the foot of each spine.

    Second edition of Dieudonné Thiebault’s detailed memoirs of the court of Frederick II covering Frederick himself, his family, the court, the Academy, schools, philosophers and… (more)

    Second edition of Dieudonné Thiebault’s detailed memoirs of the court of Frederick II covering Frederick himself, his family, the court, the Academy, schools, philosophers and intellectuals, and the military and civil government of Prussia. Thiebault had first gone to Berlin in 1765 to take up a post as Professor of Literature at the Academy on the recommendation of d’Alembert. He subsequently became an advisor to the king, helping him with his addresses to the Académie des sciences de Berlin and editing many of his works prior to publication. Thiebault remained in Berlin for twenty years, where he was given a place in the Academy and was granted a pension by Frederick.

    Provenance: Michel-Frédéric Pillet-Will (1781-1860), with black labels lettered ‘Pillet-Will’ in gilt at the foot of the spines.

    See Cioranescu 61689-61692.

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  • Histoire de la Décadence et de la Chute by GIBBON, Edward (1737-1794).LECLERC DE SEPT-CHÊNES (d. 1788).
    GIBBON, Edward (1737-1794).
    LECLERC DE SEPT-CHÊNES (d. 1788).
    Histoire de la Décadence et de la Chute de l’Empire Romain; Traduit de l’Anglois de M. Gibbon, par M. Leclerc de Septchênes, Secretaire du Cabinet du Roi. Tome Premier [-Quatrième]. Paris, Debure & Moutard, 1786.

    Third Edition. Four volumes, 12mo (164 x 94 mm), pp. xx, 328; [iv], 412; [iv], 410; [iv], 368, text browned in part, with the half-titles, in contemporary Austrian quarter calf over speckled boards, distinctive non-sectional gilding on the covers, yellow morocco labels lettered in gilt, bright blue geometric patterned endpapers, bright red edges, from the Starhemberg library at Schloss Eferding, with the library stamp and usual crayon shelf mark on the half-titles.

    A delightful copy of Sept-Chênes’ translation of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, from the Starhemberg Library, in fresh condition in a typically Starhemberg binding. The translator,… (more)

    A delightful copy of Sept-Chênes’ translation of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, from the Starhemberg Library, in fresh condition in a typically Starhemberg binding. The translator, Leclerc de Sept-Chênes, was tutor to the young Louis XVI and the first volume was partly translated by the young king as an exercise in learning English. Sept-Chênes made corrections to the work of his Royal charge and completed the translation, which was first published in three volumes in 1776. Various other translators tackled the remaining volumes of Gibbon’s work and it was finally published by Moutard in its entirety in 18 volumes, 1788-1795.
    ‘Louis XVI, étudiant l’anglais sous la direction de Leclerc de Sept-Chênes, lecteur de son cabinet, s’est exercé sur le premier volume, publié en 1776, et, arrivé aux 15ème et 16ème chapitres, il abandonna l’ouvrage que revit, continua et fit imprimer M. de Sept-Chênes’ (Brunet).

    OCLC lists San Bernadino, Bamberg, Kassel, Gotha, Dresden and Pisa.

    See Cioranescu 38375; Norton 80.

    View basket More details Price: £750.00
  • licenious novel set in the Indies
    LA MORLIERE, Charles Jacques Louis August Rochette, Chevalier de (1719-1785).
    Angola, Histoire Indienne; Ouvrage sans vraisemblance. I. [-II] Partie. ‘Agra’, the Grand-Mogol, ie Paris, 1746.

    First Edition. 12mo, (162 x 92 mm), pp. [ii], 20, [vi], 162; [iv], 199, in contemporary calf, rebacked retaining the original spine, red morocco label lettered in gilt, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers, red edges.

    First edition of this famous satire on Paris society, ‘chef d'œuvre de la littérature galante’ and one of the best-sellers of pre-Revolutionary France. Set in… (more)

    First edition of this famous satire on Paris society, ‘chef d'œuvre de la littérature galante’ and one of the best-sellers of pre-Revolutionary France. Set in the exotic Indies, where La Morlière creates an imaginary and fantastical world, the nature of which allows him great scope in satirising contemporary French society. The novel opens with the marriage of the just king, Erzeb-can, to Princess Arsenide, a relation of the Fée Lumineuse, queen of a neighbouring nation. It is their son, Angola, the eponymous hero, whose adventures during his travels through the Indies and Arabia make up the body of the narrative. Edouard Thiery called this novel 'le miroir du siècle, le livre des jolies boudoirs, le manuel charmant de la conversation à la mode'. The dedication, bound as usual after the preface and the contents, is addressed ‘aux petites maitresses’ and sets the tone for the ‘free and licencious’ spirit of the text. By far the most successful of La Morlière’s works, it ran to numerous editions throughout the eighteenth century, with at least ten further ‘Agra’ printings in the decade following publication.
    ‘The reader is continually invited to laugh mockingly at the frivolity of a world where only fashion reigns. La Morlière’s characters exist as functions of their pleasures: the theater, the opera, receptions, reading, hunting, gambling, and - above and before all else - the dynamics and delights of the bedroom. While the narration of these pleasures can never be the equivalent of experiencing them, what La Morlière does offer is a diction of flippancy and cynicism that invites his readers to share an assumed superiority to characters whom in most cases they would be delighted to replace; (Thomas M. Kavanagh, Enlightened Pleasures, 2010, p. 32).
    Libertine, musketeer, theatrical critic and associate of Voltaire, La Morlière established his headquarters in the Café Procope where a clique of journalists soon formed around him. He was a great operator in the theatrical world, both in the 'Théâtre français' and the 'Comédie italienne', where he was known for the dubious nature of his dealings. However, his theatrical career came to a fairly abrupt end when he thought that by engineering applause in the usual way he could guarantee the success of his own plays, a mistake for which he paid the price of his career.

    Cioranescu 36472; Jones p. 92; Gay I:221; Darnton 38; Hartig p. 50.

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  • POELLNITZ, Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von (1692-1775).
    La Saxe Galante. Ou Histoire des Amours d’Auguste I. Roi de Pologne. Amsterdam, aux dépens de la Compagnie, 1736.

    Third Edition. 12mo (146 x 88 mm), pp. [ii], 416, title page printed in red, first and final leaves a little dampstained, binding internally sprung but externally sound, in later vellum, marbled endpapers, spine simply ruled and lettered in gilt, with the ownership inscription ‘A. de Meslon’ (?).

    A scarce early edition of one of the cheekiest plagiarisms of the eighteenth century. Frequently reprinted, this chronique scandaleuse claims to contain true details of… (more)

    A scarce early edition of one of the cheekiest plagiarisms of the eighteenth century. Frequently reprinted, this chronique scandaleuse claims to contain true details of the love life of the King of Poland, Augustus of Saxony, known as ‘the German Casanova’ and said to have fathered some 400 illegitimate children.
    ‘Cet ouvrage du baron de Poellnitz est un plagiat des plus audacieux. - Ce n'est autre chose que le charmant roman de la Princesse de Clèves de Mme de La Fayette, que le baron de Poellnitz a mis sous son nom, en changeant tout simplement les noms des personnages et le lieu de l'action. Quant aux phrases et au style, on n’a même pas pris la peine de les déguiser’ (Gay III, p. 1028-1079). Gay goes on to say that according to Paulmy this ‘roman très agréable et très amusant’ was the ‘fruit of the youth’ of the chevalier de Solignac, who was witness to most of the adventures recounted in it. It was translated into German as Das Galante Sachsen, Frankfurt, 1739.

    See Jones p. 54; Cioranescu 50714; Gay III, 1078-1079; MMF 63.R.37.

    Not in OCLC, which lists an ebook, linked to a digital version of the Harvard copy.

    View basket More details Price: £200.00
  • ‘les livres de Goudar sont aussi rares qu’il fut auteur fécond’ (Mars)
    L'Espion François à Londres; by GOUDAR, Pierre Ange (1720-1791).
    GOUDAR, Pierre Ange (1720-1791).
    L'Espion François à Londres; ou Observations Critiques sur l’Angleterre et sur les Anglois. Par Mr. le Chevalier de Goudar. Ouvrage destiné à servir de Suite à l’Espion Chinois du même Auteur. Premier [-Second] Volume. ‘Londres, aux dépens de l’Auteur’, 1780.

    Second Edition. Two volumes in one, 12mo, (166 x 98 mm), pp. xii, 286; xii, 314, with half titles and table of contents to each volume, in contemporary calf, gilt tooled border to covers, spine elaborately gilt in continuous pattern with black morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers and edges.

    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… (more)

    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.

    Mars, Ange Goudar, Cet Inconnu, Nice 1966, no. 138; see also Darnton, The Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France 1769-1789, no. 207; Cioranescu 31501.

    ESTC t97973, at BL, Cambridge, Bodleian, Taylorian, Rylands; several copies in Poland and two in France; Harvard, Queen’s University, Stanford and Clark.

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  • 'the perfect realization of the age of enlightenment' (Soboul)
    'un ouvrage très étonnant' (Versins)
    Le Voyageur Philosophe by VILLENEUVE, Daniel de, pseud. LISTONAI.
    VILLENEUVE, Daniel de, pseud. LISTONAI.
    Le Voyageur Philosophe dans un Pais inconnu aux habitans de la Terre. Par Mr. de Listonai. Tome Premier [-Second]. Amsterdam, aux dépens de l'Editeur, 1761.

    First Edition. Two volumes, 12mo, (182 x 105mm), pp. xxiv, 339, [1] errata; vi, 384, title pages in red and black, as often with this book, some of the gatherings were printed on cheaper paper and are consequently browned (Vol I, F & N, Vol. 2, N), in contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt in compartments, brown and black morocco labels lettered and numbered in gilt, marbled endpapers, red edges.

    An extraordinary philosophical voyage in the form of a dream sequence to the land of the Sélénites on the moon. The voyage is made by… (more)

    An extraordinary philosophical voyage in the form of a dream sequence to the land of the Sélénites on the moon. The voyage is made by means of one of the earliest fictional aeronautical devices, a complex interplanetary flying machine which takes passengers across the hyperboric region 'à force d'x et d'y' and is flown by a specialist pilot, 'intrépide calculateur de l'infini'. In addition to their flying machines, the Sélénites have a technologically advanced society, with running water in all the houses and air conditioning in the hospitals. There is no concept of ownership, of 'mien' and 'tien', and so there is no crime. In the education of children Villeneuve has a particularly radical outlook, with all the children brought up to be ambidextrous and both sexes educated to the same extent. The Sélénites have also managed to preserve some works that have been lost on earth, including Cicero's Republic and considerable fragments from the library of Alexandria.
    Hartig criticises some of Villeneuve's fictional devices as being unoriginal, such as the hero's transportation from Rome to Paris in 48 minutes, or to Japan in 16 or 17 hours, achieved by the author's being suspended in air while the earth rotates. This apparently was an idea first advanced by Fontenelle in 1686 and subsequently refuted. For all that, it is a nice conceit and, scientific accuracy apart, it makes for good fantasy. Hartig further condemns the work for its second volume, which contains only philosophical digressions, 'd'intérêt médiocre'. But Versins devotes a considerable amount of time to the work, which he hails as 'très étonnant' in many aspects, in being pre-Mercier as a utopia set in future time and in being pre-Tiphaigne de la Roche in its communications theories and in its ground-breaking introduction of the astronaut. Hartig adds that the work was severely criticised in the Journal encyclopédique, 1761. Albert Soboul, in his Utopies aux Siècle des Lumières, calls this work 'the perfect realization of the age of enlightenment' (see Lewis, p. 195).

    Hartig p. 57; not in Gove; Lewis, Utopian Literature in the Pennsylvania State University Libraries, p. 195; see Versins p. 540.

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  • Zadig, by VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778).
    VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778).
    Zadig, ou la Destinée, Histoire Orientale par Mr. de Voltaire. Londres, G. Sidney for Polidori, 1799.

    First Polidori Edition. 24mo, (123 x 70 mm), engraved frontispiece portrait and pp. [iii], 4-204, with thirteen further engraved plates, bound without the terminal colophon leaf, the plates with small impression within wide borders, slightly foxed, in contemporary red morocco, single filet gilt to covers, flat spine gilt in compartments, lettered in gilt, rubbed at extremities and along the edges, some light staining, marbled endpapers, with the armorial bookplate of ‘Belper’ and the inscription of John Beaumont

    A scarce illustrated edition of Voltaire’s philosophical novel, printed in London for Gaetano Polidori (1764-1853), father of John William Polidori and grandfather of Dante Gabriel… (more)

    A scarce illustrated edition of Voltaire’s philosophical novel, printed in London for Gaetano Polidori (1764-1853), father of John William Polidori and grandfather of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Gaetano Polidori came to London in 1790 where he taught Italian as well as translating a number of works into Italian, including Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. He published a number of works, including those of his grandchildren, and set up a private press in his house in London.
    This is a delightful pocket edition of Voltaire’s enlightenment tale, first published in a slightly shorter form under the title Memnon in Amsterdam, 1747, with the full text appearing in the following year under the title Zadig. Second only to Candide among Voltaire’s contes philosophiques, and based on the Persian tale The Three Princes of Serendip, Voltaire uses the oriental setting to explore religious and metaphysical orthodoxy through the moral development of the protagonist. The oriental backdrop allows for thinly disguised references to the political and social problems of contemporary France.
    The text is accompanied by a very attractive suite of thirteen aquatint plates and two vignettes drawn and engraved by Le Cœur. ‘Jolie petite édition peu commune de ce roman. Les figures existent imprimées en couleurs’ (Cohen-de Ricci).

    ESTC t178499, at BL, Cambridge, Bodleian, New York Public Library and Texas only.

    Cohen-de Ricci 1038; not in BN Voltaire Catalogue.

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  • SAINT-PIERRE, Charles Irénée Castel, abbé de (1658-1743).
    ALLETZ, Pons-Augustin, editor.
    Les Rêves d'un homme de bien, qui peuvent être réalisés; ou les vues utiles et pratiquables de M. l'Abbé de Saint-Pierre, choisies dans ce grand nombre de Projets singuliers, dont le bien public étoit le principe. Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1775.

    First Edition. 12mo (165 x 90 mm), engraved frontispiece portrait and pp. xii, 502, [2], in contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges red, green silk marker, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    Extracts of some twenty works by the Abbé de Saint-Pierre, utopian, diplomat, academicien and economist, prophet of the League of Nations, best known for his… (more)

    Extracts of some twenty works by the Abbé de Saint-Pierre, utopian, diplomat, academicien and economist, prophet of the League of Nations, best known for his Projet pour rendre la Paix perpetuelle en Europe, 1713-17. 'Some of his other schemes called for the inauguration of political, economic and demographical statistics; the establishment of an official press; the reformation of taxation by the institution of a tax graduated according to income or, as he proposed in another project, according to capital; the suppression of begging; the improvement of the judicial system; the building of roads; the creation of a system of public instruction; the vocational and professional training of children; the elimination of most of the inequalities between the sexes in matters of education; and certain advanced innovations in pedagogical method' (Palgrave III, 345).
    This selection of his works, selected and edited by Pons-Augustin Alletz, includes essays on population, social welfare, hospitals, child care, finance, commerce and education. 'The works of this 'homme de bien', as he was called in his time, are rare and difficult to collect' (ibid).

    Cioranescu 58718; Kress 7163; Goldsmiths 11219; Higgs 6527; Einaudi 934; INED 43.

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  • MARECHAL, Pierre Sylvain (1750-1803).
    Bibliotheque des Amans. [Odes Erotiques; par M. Sylvain M***. ] A Gnide. Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1777.

    First Edition. 18mo, (135 x 80 mm), pp. [iv], viii, [9]-212, pagination includes the attractive engraved title page, unsigned but attributed to Marillier and the half-title, which gives the alternative rubric ‘Odes Erotiques’ and supplying the author’s name, in an elegant nineteenth century binding, half green morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    An attractive copy, though a nineteenth century binding, of a scarce early publication by Sylvain Marechal. The Bibliothèque des Amans, a compilation of poems celebrating… (more)

    An attractive copy, though a nineteenth century binding, of a scarce early publication by Sylvain Marechal. The Bibliothèque des Amans, a compilation of poems celebrating love, consists mainly of 'Odes Erotiques' with a small final section of miscellaneous poems, quatrains, hymns and epitaphs. This is Marechal's second published work, published some seven years after his precocious Bergeries which earned him the nickname of 'Sylvain', the name by which he is known to this day and which is used on the title page of the present work. In the preface, Marechal explains that the volume is not intended to be very big but is long enough to fill just those moments in which Love makes a truce with Pleasure in order to render it more piquant. The miscellany is preceded by an 'Epître aux Femmes' and an 'Envoi' to Madame L.B.D.S.J.; it concludes with a table of verses in which are listed the tunes to which the various poems can be sung.
    Includes a poem inspired by events written up in the Gazette de France in Oct. or Nov. 1776. cf. p. 190 (see note in Hollis).

    Cioranescu 42496; Cohen-de Ricci coll. 678-679; Gay I 388.

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  • DIDEROT, Denis (1713-1784).
    Pensées philosophiques. The Hague, aux dépens de la compagnie, 1746.

    Third Edition. 12mo, (133 x 68 mm), engraved frontispiece (98 x 57 mm) and pp. [ii], 136, [12], printer’s ornament on title-page with four heads around a central block of 20 squares, the pagination irregular between p. 31 and p. 46 (as in Adams PD3), small partial tear on title-page, across two lines of text but with no loss, some spotting and browning in text, in nineteenth century brown morocco, single filet gilt border to covers with corner fleurons, spine gilt in compartments, lettered in gilt, brown marbled endpapers with morocco strengthening at gutter, gilt dentelles, gilt edges, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    An early edition - for many years thought to be the first - of Diderot’s first original work, bound in nineteenth century morocco. An immediate… (more)

    An early edition - for many years thought to be the first - of Diderot’s first original work, bound in nineteenth century morocco. An immediate furore followed its initial publication and it was condemned to be burnt by the Paris Parlement for its dangerous and anti-religious content: ‘the venom of the most criminal opinions that the depravity of human reason is capable of’. Diderot’s original manuscript had been purchased by the bookseller Durand and the first editions were printed in Paris at the clandestine press of l’Epine. It was to become one of Diderot’s most popular and controversial works, running to at least eighteen editions in the eighteenth century and prompting numerous refutations.
    At this stage in his life, the young Diderot was a Deist and in the Pensées he sets out to demonstrate the existence of God through evidence of the material world. He attacks atheism in this work, but also criticises revealed religion and religious asceticism and challenges the existence of miracles. He writes eloquently of human passions and argues for the reconciliation of feeling with reason. The work is presented in the form of sixty-two short chapters, some of which are little more than maxims, brief and quotable in the manner of La Rochefoucauld, such as: ’A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it’; ‘One may demand of me that I should seek truth but not that I should find it’ and ‘Skepticism is the first step towards truth’. The work concludes with a final detailed index.
    This is one of four editions that appeared in 1746, all with the imprint ‘A la Haye, aux dépens de la compagnie’. The present printing was long thought to be the first edition, partly on account of its errors in pagination, but Adams demonstrates that it is third in priority. Furthermore he concludes that the present edition was entirely reset, rather than as previously thought a few corrections being made to a number of pages. The printer’s ornament is the same as both previous editions, but the double rule in the imprint of this copy measures 50mm, rather than the 45mm as called for by Adams.
    With an attractive engraved frontispiece in the manner of Eisen, in which the voluptuous figure of Truth standing on the right removes the mask from the foul looking figure of Superstition, who is lounging on the floor with a broken sceptre. In our copy the plate measures 98 x 57 mm.

    Adams, Bibliographie des œuvres de Denis Diderot, PD3; Cioranescu 24143; Cohen-de Ricci col. 305.

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  • GÉNARD, Françcois, (ca. 1722-1764).
    L’Ecole de l'Homme, ou Paralléle des Portraits du Siècle, & des Tableaux de l'Ecriture Sainte. Ouvrage moral, critique & anecdotique. Nouvelle Edition. Tome Premier [-Second]. Londres, 1759.

    New Edition. Two volumes in one, 12mo (164 x 92 mm), pp. [iv], xxiv, 224; [iv], 259, some light browning in the text, in contemporary mottled calf, blind ruled filet to covers, spine gilt in compartments with red morocco label lettered in gilt, slightly worn at extremities, top of front joint cracking, blue marbled endpapers, pink silk marker, blue marbled edges, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    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.… (more)

    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.

    See Cioranescu 30577; Quérard III, 302; Darnton 182.

    OCLC lists Wuerzburg and Lyon only.

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  • DIDEROT, Denis (1713-1784).
    Traité du Beau. [with: De la Philosophie des Chinois.] Amsterdam, ie Paris, 1772.

    12mo (164 x 90 mm), pp. [ii], 3-118, [2], 121-180, corner torn from final page and restored, not touching text, occasional browning in text, in modern green vellum with new endpapers, spine lettered in gilt, red edges, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    Two important articles written by Diderot for the Encyclopédie and bound here in modern green vellum. The first article in the volume was originally entitled… (more)

    Two important articles written by Diderot for the Encyclopédie and bound here in modern green vellum. The first article in the volume was originally entitled ‘Beau’ in the Encyclopédie (tome II, 1751) and this is the first appearance under this title and the first printing of both essays outside the Encyclopédie.
    In this key work on aesthetics, Diderot discusses many writers - Crouzas, Hutcheson, Wolf - but acknowledges a superior debt to Yves-Marie André, who has ‘most furthered the understanding of this subject... and formed the truest and most solid principles’. Diderot echoes André’s work when he explores the relationship between feeling and beauty: ‘But tell me, is a thing beautiful because it pleases, or does it please because it is beautiful? There is no problem; it pleases because it is beautiful’. Diderot’s essay brings together his first-hand knowledge of artists and their work (learnt from friends like Chardin and Falconet as well as from his experience as critic of the Salons), with a broader moral and civic aesthetic in which art becomes an instrument of social change.
    Diderot’s essay De la philosophie des Chinois was the second of two entries on China supplied by Diderot for the Encyclopédie. The first one, ‘Chine’, concentrated on the known facts and merits of China and its culture. By contrast, this essay was a virulent attack both on the Jesuits and on the idolatry and superstitions of the Chinese. Criticising the Sinophilia prevalent in France at the time, Diderot argues that much of what was praised about Chinese culture was based on unreliable translations and he presents in its place a poor picture of an idle, idolatrous and uncivilised nation.
    Traité du beau and De la philosophie des Chinois were first reprinted as part of the third volume of the first collected edition of Diderot’s works, Œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques, Amsterdam 1772, from which these two titles have been taken. Given the modern binding, it is impossible to know if it was originally bound and offered for sale separately or if it was extracted more recently. Adams notes that individual volumes of this six volume collected works as well as works within the volumes were frequently offered separately.
    ‘On trouve souvent imprimés à part les volumes de cette édition, qui furent mis en vente tels quels à l’époque, sans le faux-titre et le titre général et avec le titre particulier seulement. Parfois, les œuvres dont se composent certains volumes furent également détachés et mises en vente’ (Adams, I, p.84).
    Adams also notes a German translation of De la philosophie des Chinois by Johann Jakob Engel which was published in Philosophische Werke des Herrn Diderot, Leipzig, 1774.

    Adams, Bibliographie des œuvres de Denis Diderot, A1 (3).

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  • engraved by Watelet and Marguerite Lecomte
    Idylles et Poëmes Champêtres by GESSNER, Salomon (1730-1788).HUBER, Michel (1727-1804), translator.
    GESSNER, Salomon (1730-1788).
    HUBER, Michel (1727-1804), translator.
    Idylles et Poëmes Champêtres de M. Gessner, Traduits de l'Allemand par M. Huber, Traducteur de la Mort d'Abel. Lyon, Bruyset, 1762.

    First Edition. 8vo, (162 x 98 mm), engraved frontispiece by Watelet after Lavallée-Poussin and pp. xlvi, [ii], 154, [4], numerous engraved vignettes throughout the text, including twelve engraved head- and tail-pieces by Watelet (including one by Marguerite Lecomte) after Lavallée-Poussin and Pierre, in contemporary mottled calf, triple gilt fillet to covers, flat spine gilt in compartments with red morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, red edges, green silk marker, corners very slightly bumped, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    A handsome copy of this very attractive first French translation of Gessner's Idylles, beautifully illustrated throughout. The frontispiece, depicting a shepherdess in a pastoral scene,… (more)

    A handsome copy of this very attractive first French translation of Gessner's Idylles, beautifully illustrated throughout. The frontispiece, depicting a shepherdess in a pastoral scene, is engraved by Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786) after Etienne de La Vallée-Poussin (1735-1802) and there are twelve further engravings in the course of the text, as head- and tail-pieces. Eleven of these are also engraved by Watelet after Lavallée-Poussin and Pierre and the twelfth is by Watelet’s long-term lover, Marguerite Lecomte (1717-1800). Each of the pieces is signed.
    This is an early work by Huber, only preceded by another translation from Gessner, his La mort d'Abel, 1760. Huber, the first to introduce Gessner into France, was to go on to be a prolific writer and translator, always from the German, specialising mainly in poetry and in the history of art, particularly antiquities. He also published a work of instruction in the German language and in 1766 took up a post teaching French at the University of Leipzig. Turgot was among Huber’s students and it was he who supplied the preface to the present work as well as the translation of the first idyll. Huber’s translator’s preface is also of considerable interest for its discussion of contemporary German literature, arguing its superiority over Italian and English literature, analysing the works of several authors and citing numerous passages of particular value to the man of taste.

    Cioranescu 34238; Cohen-de Ricci p. 431.

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  • Tableau de l'Angleterre et de l’Italie, by ARCHENHOLZ, Johann Wilhelm von (1743-1812).BILDERBECK, Ludwig Benedict Franz von (1764?-1856?), translator.
    ARCHENHOLZ, Johann Wilhelm von (1743-1812).
    BILDERBECK, Ludwig Benedict Franz von (1764?-1856?), translator.
    Tableau de l'Angleterre et de l’Italie, par M. d’Archenholz, ancien capitaine au service de S. M. le Roi de Prusse. Traduit de l’Allemand. De l’Angleterre. Tome Premier [-Tome Second]. De l’Italie [Tome III though not so designated]. Strasbourg, J.G. Treuttel, 1788.

    First Edition in French? Three volumes, 12mo, (190 x 125 mm), pp. xii, 288; [ii], 326; [ii], 376, marginal dampstaining throughout volume I, pagination erratic in volume I between p. 97 and p. 121, tear to III Z3 (p. 269) across the text but with no loss, uncut throughout in the original brightly coloured printed wrappers, blue and red spotted, spines faded and chipped at head and foot.

    An attractive, unsophisticated copy in contemporary decorative wrappers of this Prussian officer’s account of England and Italy. A professor of history with an interest in… (more)

    An attractive, unsophisticated copy in contemporary decorative wrappers of this Prussian officer’s account of England and Italy. A professor of history with an interest in contemporary European politics, Archenholz wrote widely on current events. From 1791 he lived in France and ran a German language newspaper, Minerva, which reported the events of the French Revolution. His initial enthusiasm for the Revolution was challenged by its increasing violence and in 1792 the opinions expressed in his paper forced him to flee France in order to escape the guillotine.
    The present work was originally published as England und Italien, Leipzig 1785. It was a very popular work which saw many editions and was translated into French and English. This is one of several editions of this French translation by the poet and dramatist, Ludwig von Bilderbeck. A two volume edition of the first part of the work only, that on England, was printed in Brussels by le Francq as Tableau de l’Angleterre, contenant des anecdotes curieuses et intéressantes, 1788. In the same year, there was a Gotha edition printed by Ettinger, including both parts on England and Italy and also a two volume Paris edition printed by Volland, including both English and Italian parts. Both parts were also translated into English, the first two volumes as A picture of England, containing a description of the laws, customs and manners of England, London 1789 and the final volume as A picture of Italy, London 1791.
    ‘La Grande-Bretagne, cette reine des îles, est si différente de tous les autres Etats de l’Europe, par la forme de son gouvernement, par ses loix, ses usages, ses mœurs et la manière d’agir et de penser de ses habitans, qu’elle parait plutôt appartenir à un autre globe qu’à celui où nous vivons. Le contraste est sur-tout frappant lorsqu’on passe de France en Angleterre. On se croit transporté dans une autre planète’ (I pp. 1-2).

    OCLC lists copies at BN, Lyon, Yverdon, Institut Catholique de Paris, Yale, Newberry and Queens University Library.

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  • Les Etrennes de la Saint-Jean. by CAYLUS, Anne-Claude-Philippe de Tubières de Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, comte de (1692-1765).
    CAYLUS, Anne-Claude-Philippe de Tubières de Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, comte de (1692-1765).
    Les Etrennes de la Saint-Jean. Seconde Edition, Revûë, corrigée & augmentée par les Auteurs de plusieurs Morceaux d’esprit. Troyes, la Veuve Oudot [ie Paris, Duchesne], 1742.

    First Edition, Large Paper Copy (satirically designated ‘Seconde Edition, Revûë, corrigée & augmentée’). 12mo, (175 x 100 mm), pp. xii, 264, frontispiece woodcut portrait of the printer, ‘Mr. ou Me. Oudot’ printed in blue with the caption and verse in black, title page and printed in blue and black, with the vignette of books, ‘Au Livre Bleu’, printed in blue; a large paper copy printed on papier vélin, in contemporary diced calf by Bozerian Jeune, single gilt fillet to covers with gilt garland of circles, spine gilt in compartments with simple tooling and rules, lettered in gilt, signed ‘Bozerian Jeune’ at the foot of the spine, marbled endpapers, paper shelf mark label, gilt edges: headcap and upper joints skillfully restored, some wear to extremities, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    A handsome copy in a Bozerian jeune binding of one of the few copies of Caylus’ jeu d’esprit to be printed on large paper. The… (more)

    A handsome copy in a Bozerian jeune binding of one of the few copies of Caylus’ jeu d’esprit to be printed on large paper. The frontispiece portrait, the ‘blue books’ vignette of the title page, the false imprint and the false edition statement are all part of an elaborate parody of the Bibliothèque bleue printed by Oudot in Troyes. A note on the verso of the frontispiece facetiously explains the inclusion of the portrait in a wonderful sentence rife with double meanings about counterfeit texts: ‘L’Imprimeur étant contrefait, il a jugé à propos de se faire graver, afin que son Livre ne soit pas de lui, quand il n’y sera pas’.
    Another dig at the commercial success of the Oudot family is printed on the verso of the title-page, facing the preface: ‘L’attention que je me donne pour satisfaire le gré du Public, ne m’empêche point de penser à mes petits intérêts; c’est la raison pourquoi, pour satisfaire à la curiosité d’aucuns parmi les Curieux, on a tiré queuques [sic] Exemplaires sur de grand & gros papier; ça me coûte fort peu, & ça se vend un tiers de plus, c’est la maniere’.
    These humorous works contain a variety of contes galantes, facetious anecdotes, short stories, little fictional vignettes, imaginary correspondence, short plays, poems and dialogues, with settings which take the reader from the fashionable east to the more disreputable parts of Paris. With the famous satirical frontispiece illustrating the printer, ‘Monsieur ou Madame Oudot’, here printed in blue. Also containing ‘Lettre Persanne d’un Monsieur de Paris, à un Gentilhomme Turc de ses Amis’ (pp. 21-28) and the reply ‘Reponse pour le Gentilhomme Turc, à la Lettre Persanne de Paris’ (pp. 28-32); ‘Dialogue en forme de Questions, sur le Mariage’ (pp. 37-45), ‘Le Ballet des Dindons’ (pp. 84-91), ‘Le Prince Bel-Esprit, & la Reine Toute-Belle’ (pp. 96-104) and the conte philosophique ‘Les Epreuves d’Amour dans les quatre Elémens, histoire nouvelle’, with its continuation (pp. 106-175). Written in collaboration with a number of Caylus’ friends, including Crébillon fils, Duclos, Vadé, Maurepas, Moncrif, Collé, Voisenon and the redoubtable bibliophile the Comtesse de Verrue. These were the key players in a literary société badine which centred around the actress and comedian Jeanne-Françoise Quinault. The society would meet for exuberant dinners during the course of which they would these tales and satirical pieces would be composed.

    Cioranescu 16247; Cohen-de Ricci 209; Gay I 182; Jones p. 79.

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  • de Goncourt’s copy in contemporary green morocco
    Les A Propos de Societé by LAUJON, Pierre (1727-1811).MOREAU, Jean Michel, ‘le jeune’ (1741-1814), illustrator.
    LAUJON, Pierre (1727-1811).
    MOREAU, Jean Michel, ‘le jeune’ (1741-1814), illustrator.
    Les A Propos de Societé ou Chansons de M. L****. Tome I [-II]. Paris, 1776.

    First Editions. Three volumes, 8vo, (180 x 105 mm), engraved frontispiece and engraved title-page to each volume and pp. [iii]-x, 302; 316; [iii]-vi, 319, [1] errata, each volume with additional engraved head- and tail-piece, all by Moreau, engraved by Launay, Simonett, Duclos and Martini, additional vignettes throughout the text, in contemporary green morocco, triple gilt fillet to covers, spines gilt in compartments, two red morocco labels on each spine, lettered and numbered in gilt, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, with the ex libris of Henri Bonnasse and an unidentified one with the monogram ‘CC’ (?) on the front pastedown and the bookplate of the Goncourt brothers, designed by Gavarni and engraved by Jules de Goncourt, on the front endpaper of the first volume, with the inscription in red ink, ‘Une des plus delicates illustrations de Moreau, de Goncourt’, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    Edmond and Jules de Goncourt’s copy of this popular French song book, elegantly printed with fabulous illustrations by Moreau. Pierre Laujon was a celebrated society… (more)

    Edmond and Jules de Goncourt’s copy of this popular French song book, elegantly printed with fabulous illustrations by Moreau. Pierre Laujon was a celebrated society host, who organised soirées and entertainments for a select few, at which his songs and ballads would be performed. His ballets, operas and verse were moderately popular and, eventually, at the advanced age of eighty, gained him his place in the Académie française. This collection contains the melodies and lyrics to 264 songs and ballads. Mostly written in a lively and humorous style, the songs celebrate love and drunkenness, birth and marriage, the follies of old age and the daily social whirl and pastimes of the ancien régime. Moreau’s illustrations are particularly evocative of Laujon’s world of aristocratic entertainment, as shown in the vignette in the second volume which depicts a magic lantern show and its enraptured audience.
    This is a stunning copy from the library of the brothers Edmond de Goncourt (1822-1896) and Jules de Goncourt (1830-1870), bibliophiles, literary partners, models of bon goût and novelists, mostly remembered today for the Prix Goncourt which is probably the most important literary prize in French literature. The brothers’ passion was the literature, art and culture of the eighteenth century and their many collaborative works were based on meticulous collections of books, engravings and documents of the era. One of their principal enthusiasms was the work of Jean-Michel Moreau whose life and works the brothers wrote about extensively (including Les vignettistes, Eisen, Moreau, Paris, Dentu, 1870; L’art du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1880-1882).
    Altogether the three volumes include three elegant engraved title-pages by Moreau (that of the first volume is used again in the second, with only the volume number changed), a frontispiece by Moreau, engraved by Launay, Simonet and Martini and three engraved head-pieces by Moreau, engraved by Duclos and Martini and three tail-pieces by Moreau, engraved by de Launay (vols 1 & 2) and by Moreau himself (vol. 3). The text itself is elegantly printed with abundant decoration, typographical ornaments and small vignettes. The third volume, which is usually found with the first two, has the title ‘Les A Propos de la Folie, ou Chancons Grotesques, Grivoises et Annonces de Parade’.

    ‘Les illustrations sont d’une grâce ravissante et comptent parmi les meilleures de Moreau’ (Cohen-de Ricci coll. 604).

    Provenance: Jules and Edmond de Goncourt, with their bookplate, and the manuscript note ‘Une des plus delicates illustrations de Moreau’, signed ‘de Goncourt’.

    Cioranescu 37506 and 37505; Cohen-de Ricci 604.

    Bibliothèque des Goncourt, 391: ‘Bel exemplaire. Les illustrations par Moreau de ces deux ouvrages sont très remarquables’.

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  • Promenades de Monsieur de Clairenville. by D ***, Mr.
    D ***, Mr.
    Promenades de Monsieur de Clairenville. Où l’on trouve une vive peinture des Passions des hommes, avec des Histoires curieuses & véritables sur chaque sujet. Par Mr. D***. Cologne, 1755.

    Third Edition. 12mo, (162 x 93 mm), pp. [iv], 362, [3] table of contents, in contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, red speckled edges, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    A delightful anonymous work in which narratives and philosophical digression are happily mixed. Consisting of a total of eight ‘Promenades’, each of which is loosely… (more)

    A delightful anonymous work in which narratives and philosophical digression are happily mixed. Consisting of a total of eight ‘Promenades’, each of which is loosely intended to elucidate one aspect of human passion. In the author’s brief introduction, he laments that the only explanation for the prevailing morality and behaviour is that men have become children. ‘La plûpart des hommes ont aujourd’hui abandonné les lectures sérieuses & instructives, parce que l’application qu’elles demandent, se trouve absolument incompatible, avec l’esprit de volupté qui les domine’ (Préface de l’Auteur, p. iii).
    In the first Promenade, Monsieur de Clairenville meets a knight of Malta and falls into conversation with him. The knight tells him of his aventures, including the tragic story of the beautiful Sophie. The second Promenade, subtitled ‘Sur les Passions’, contains an essay on the education of youth and a tale about a young Paris lawyer. The third Promenade, ‘Sur l’Usage des Passions’, includes a prayer to Saint Christopher, a discussion of Jesuits and monks and a section on Reason. The fourth is ‘Sur l’Amour’, with reflections and a story of a young lady who could not cure herself of this malady. The fifth, ‘Sur la Colère’, gives the history of Leonore and Olympia. The sixth Promenade provides a discussion of Avarice, with a strange miscellany of reflections on France, trade in Mississippi and John Law, concluding with ‘Histoire curieuse d’un Avare, qui avoit beaucoup gagné au Mississipi’. Seven is Ambition, with the tale of a persecuted cleric and eight is Hatred, which begins with a conversation between Monsieur de Clairenville and a Carmelite, outlines the author’s general system for understanding this passion and concludes with the final story, ‘Histoire de la Comtesse de.... les excès où elle se porte pour satisfaire sa Haine contre son Mari’.
    First published in 1723 (see Jones p. 35) under the slightly different title of Promenades de Mr. de Clairenville, and then republished in 1743 and the present edition under the present title. It was republished in the first volume of the Bibliothèque universelle des romans, April 1782. Despite its evident popularity, with three editions spanning a number of years, this unusual work is now very scarce.

    OCLC lists the 1723 edition at BN, Berlin, Toronto and Texas; the 1743 edition at Berlin, Newberry, Harvard, Tulane, Kansas and Boston PL and the present edition at Vanderbilt only.

    Jones p. 35; MMF 55.R.6.

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  • GUIBERT, Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, comte de (1743-1790).
    Discours sur l'État Actuel de la Politique et de la Science Militaire, en Europe. Avec le plan d’un ouvrage intitulé: La France politique & militaire. Geneva, 1773.

    12mo, (167 x 92 mm), pp. x, 179, in contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers and edges, pink silk marker, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    A scarce separate edition of Guibert’s celebrated treatise on the art of war, first published as part of his Essai général de tactique, précédé d’un… (more)

    A scarce separate edition of Guibert’s celebrated treatise on the art of war, first published as part of his Essai général de tactique, précédé d’un discours sur l’état actuel de la politique et de la science militaire en Europe, avec le plan d’un ouvrage intitulé La France politique et militaire, Londres, 1772.
    Guibert’s controversial works on military tactics, despite being initially condemned by the French government, eventually led to many reforms in the French army. He is regarded as one of the leading military tacticians of the pre-revolutionary era and his influence extended within Europe to Frederick II and Napoleon and outside Europe, through von Steuben, to the generals of the American Revolution. Guibert’s works were widely read at the time in France and abroad, and a number of foreign translations were published including those into English, German and even Persian.
    ‘Of this work [Essai général de tactique] it may be said that it was the best essay on war produced by a soldier during a period in which tactics were discussed even in the salon and military literature was more abundant than at any time up to 1871’ (Encyclopædia Britanicca, 1911).
    In addition to his military career and his works on tactics and the art of war, the Comte de Guibert was also a member of the Académie française, published journals of his travels in France and Switzerland, wrote a tragedy, Le Connétable de Bourbon, 1775 and had a love affair with Julie de Lespinasse, whose love letters to him were later published.
    ‘L'oeuvre de Guibert est neuve en son temps par sa visée totaliste articulée autour de la relation fondamentale entre politique et guerre. Guibert a du cependant courir au plus pressé et rédiger l'Essai. On y trouve une distinction entre deux parties de l'art de la guerre pressentie par d'autres en ce siècle des lumières. Guibert parle de tactique élémentaire et de grande tactique. Dans la défense du système de guerre moderne, il nommera celle-ci la stratégie ou tactique des armées. La redécouverte du concept de stratégie à la fin du XVIIIe siècle tient à une nécessité sémantique. L'articulation des armées fait naître des possibilités nouvelles, à un échelon supérieur par rapport à la tactique des armées-blocs’ (L'Art de la guerre de Machiavel à Clausewitz, 89).

    Quérard, La France Littéraire, III, p. 518; Cioranescu 33011 (Geneva 1773, pp. vii, 163).

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  • MAUPERTUIS, Pierre Louis Moreau de (1698-1759).
    Essai de Philosophie Morale. Par M. de Maupertuis. 1751

    First Authorised Edition. 12mo, (157 x 92 mm), pp. [ii], xxx, 125, [2], in contemporary dark mottled calf, extremities a little bumped and some surface wear to the covers, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers and edges, from the library of Claude Lebédel.

    This is the first edition of Maupertuis’ scarce philosophical treatise to be published with his consent. The work first appeared in Berlin in 1749, printed… (more)

    This is the first edition of Maupertuis’ scarce philosophical treatise to be published with his consent. The work first appeared in Berlin in 1749, printed from a manuscript copy of the text lent to President Hénault and containing numerous errors. The events surrounding this earlier publication and Maupertuis’ own resolution in printing the present official version are explained in the lengthy preface. The work is dedicated to Frédéric II, addressed as, ‘Illustre Ami’, who himself translated Maupertuis’ work.
    Written during what was probably the happiest period of his life, when he was living in Berlin and enjoying the close friendship of Frédéric II, the Essai de Philosophie Morale is in effect Maupertuis’ philosophical testament. He examines the nature of good and evil, happiness and unhappiness, pessimism, stoicism, sensuality, pleasure and pain, arguing that in ordinary life the sum of pleasures surpasses the sum of misfortune and suffering. He goes on to explore ways in which the human condition might be improved and discusses the role that religion might play in this.

    Cioranescu 43865.

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