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an old book with a brown leather cover and gold triman old book with writing on it sitting on a table
ALDE

92 - [SOREL (Charles)]. The Satirical Adventures of Florinde, a r…
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Estimate €5,000 - €6,000
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Description
[SOREL (Charles)]. The Satirical Adventures of Florinde, a resident of the lower regions of the Moon. No place, printed in the year 1625. In-8, marbled sheepskin, plain spine with decoration, red edges (late 18th-century binding), modern slipcase and cover. 6 unnumbered folios (the 5th blank) (title page, note to the reader and verses), 212 pp. First edition of this extremely rare work. It is a collection of romantic adventures written in a very free style, which explains why the book bears neither the author’s name nor that of the bookseller, nor even a place of publication. The verses interspersed with the prose are cut from the same cloth.  P. Lacroix, in the *Bulletin du bibliophile* 1859, no. 1, writes: “Here is a book that bibliophiles will one day vie for when it is brought to their attention (...) It is a Gallic imitation of Petronius’s novel (...) This book has been attributed to Charles Sorel. This attribution may be upheld until further notice. In *Les Aventures de Florinde*, there is more than one page where one finds the famous descriptions of the orgies in *Francion*, but what one would search for in vain in *Francion*; are those free-verse poems in which the crudest words are used without hesitation (...) As for the novel as a whole, which would require a key to be understood, its obscurity reminds us of *The Isle of Hermaphrodites* after Gay. It was first attributed to Charles Sorel in the Pixérécourt catalogue (the only known copy apart from La Vallière’s). A copy belonging to Viollet-le-Duc and Pierre Louÿs (1927, III, no. 3050), subsequently owned by Joseph Lilienthal and Bruno Monnier. It remains, even today, one of only three known copies. Gay I 330–31.
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About the sale Xavier de Planhol Library – The Origins of the Novel
Auction location
Auction time 09/30/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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