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OGER-BLANCHET

314 - MERCIER, Louis-Sébastien – *L'Homme sauvage*.
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Estimate €150
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Description
MERCIER, Louis-Sébastien – *L'Homme sauvage*. A translated account of.... Paris, Vve Duchesne, 1767. In-12, 310 pp., signed ‘Bayle’ on the half-title page, marbled fawn calf in the publisher’s style, plain spine with decoration. HARTIG and SOBOUL 59. First edition. It follows fairly closely the text by J. G. Pfeil (1732–1800), its German inspiration and author of *Der Wild*, which appeared in the collection *Versuch in moralischen Erzählungen* (1757). Under the guise of a travelogue written by an Englishman recounting the story of an Indian, the novel depicts the misdeeds of the Spaniards in Peru and the treachery of the Europeans. Some have sought to see in this novel—which centres on the incestuous and ill-fated love between a brother and a sister, made impossible by the demands of civilised society—a source of inspiration for Chateaubriand’s *René*. This defence of the state of nature, which praises savages whether they are cannibals or practise incest, was banned as soon as it was published.
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About the sale The Jean Demaux Collection – Part 2
Auction location
Auction time 09/16/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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