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VILLEDIEU, Madame de - Carmente.
See original version (French)
451
-
VILLEDIEU, Madame de - Carmente.
See original version (French)
Estimate €500
Voluntary lot
Description
VILLEDIEU, Madame de - Carmente. Greek History. By Mademoiselle Des Jardins. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1668. 2 volumes in one vol. in-8, (6) ff, 500 pp. ; 536 pp. lacking the title of volume II, 18th c. porphyry calf, triple gilt thread on covers, coat of arms in centre, smooth spine grotesquely decorated.
REED (Claude Barbin) n°98. LEVER 97. First edition dedicated to the Duchesse de Nemours (1625-1707). She herself left Memoirs on the Fronde of great literary quality. Two-page autograph note by Gabriel Hanotaux inserted: ''This is the main work of Mlle Desjardins, the famous Mad. de Villedieu, who was the heroine or rather the most extraordinary romantic adventurer of the time of the Fronde. After a series of adventures, each more bizarre than the last, kidnappings, failed marriages, bigamy, childbirths and adulteries, etc., her real talent and above all her savoir faire always made her land on her "feet" as a pretty woman. She wrote prose, verse, plays, novels, etc., etc., etc. Her literature and her life can be summed up in these two lines: "If love is a vice, it is a vice more beautiful than all the virtues". See the story of Mme de Villedieu in Tallemant. It gives a good idea of the love life of the Grand Siècle and the environment that made the careers of Ninon and Scarron possible. The latter did not fail to achieve similar success, (either in one direction or the other), thanks to a bit of cavalier madness that perhaps makes her more sympathetic. According to the taste of the time, this novel is set in the pastoral setting of Diane and Astrée. But once the setting is accepted, I find it clear, real, beautifully written, with a frankness of feeling that already makes it very modern. Dated June 25, G. H.'' The arms of Jean-Joseph de Bourguignon-Bussière, known as the Marquis de la Mure, born in 1721, knight of Saint-Louis in 1751 (OHR pl. 2245).
See original version (French)
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