OGER-BLANCHET
435
-
SCUDERY, Madeleine de - Mathilde.
See original version (French)
435
-
SCUDERY, Madeleine de - Mathilde.
See original version (French)
Estimate €400
Voluntary lot
Description
SCUDERY, Madeleine de - Mathilde. Dedicated to Monseigneur, only brother of the King. Paris, Edme Martin & François Eschart, 1667. In-8, frontispiece, (3) ff. of which one blank, 122 pp, one blank f. 518 pp, fawn calf a little post, triple gilt thread on boards, spine ribbed and ornamented, upper bonnet rest.
TCH V, 786. LEVER 261. First edition dedicated to Philippe d'Orléans (1640-1701). This is the last of the great novels published by Madeleine de Scudéry. The story of Mathilde is preceded by a prologue: ''Les Jeux. A Parisian group of five girls and four boys - whose names, borrowed from ''Grand Cyrus'' and ''Clélie'', are Plotine, Noromate, Cléocrite, Herminius, etc. - go to a charming country estate on the banks of the Seine and, on arrival, spend their time playing mind games. Each participant is assigned a task by lottery: to answer a question in a witty way; to compose a madrigal or elegy; to describe a place or draw a portrait of a person; to create riddles or rebus; and finally, the ultimate test, to tell a story. The witty Noromate, "the beautiful Melancholic", draws lots for the role of narrator. The novel that follows takes place mainly at the court of Avignon in the 14th century. The characters include Petrarch and Boccaccio, many of whose poems are quoted. Mlle de Scudéry herself intersperses several of her own highly lyrical poems. The loves of Petrarch and Laure are a model for Mathilde, who is fleeing marriage in her search for purity. There are various twists and turns, involving several rivals vying for Matilda's hand and Don Alfonso, who has covered himself in glory in the fight against the Moors, and who will triumph in the end.
See original version (French)
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