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an old book with a red cover sitting on top of a white surfacean old book with writing on it sitting on a tablean old book with a picture of a man with a beardan old document with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean old handwritten letter on a piece of paper with writing on it
ALDE

257 - RAYNOUARD (François-Just-Marie).
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Estimate €150 - €200
Sale commission
Description
RAYNOUARD (François-Just-Marie). *Les États de Blois*, a tragedy in five acts in verse, first performed… on 22 June 1810…  Paris, Mame, 1814. 8vo, half-maroquin with long-grained corners, smooth spine richly decorated with gilt fillets and floral motifs on a gilt-dotted background (contemporary binding). 360 pp., portrait as an insert.  First edition, preceded by a historical note on the Duke of Guise and a portrait of him.  At the beginning of the volume is an autograph letter from the author addressed to Mr Lafon [Pierre Rapenouille (1773–1846), known as ‘le Beau Lafon’], a member of the Théâtre Français where this play was performed in 1814. The letter, however, is dated September 1805 (3 pp., in-4 with address) and concerns the performance of another play by Raynouard, his great success *Les Templiers*, in which Lafon triumphed. It refers to the circumstances surrounding an actress who played the Queen of Navarre, in connection with a ‘backstage intrigue which has earned you the distinction of polygamy’. The whole letter is written in the same sardonic tone: “I should very much like to send my sincere regards to the one your heart favours, but you yourself might look at me and ask: which one? And if my regards were sent to Luinde, they would reach Églé...” Raynouard and Lafon’s friendship went back a long way; it was at Raynouard’s insistence that Lafon had joined the Comédie Française in 1799. A few faint freckles. Brunet IV, 1129.
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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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