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a book with a picture of a woman in a dressan old picture of a view of a city from a distance
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Description
MOLIÈRE. Title: *Le Tartuffe, ou l’imposteur*. A comedy by J. B. P. de Molière. Description: Paris, printed at the author’s expense; & sold by Jean Ribou, 1669. In-16, (11) ff. (title page, preface, Privilege and ‘Achevé’ pages, cast lists), 96 pp., vignette on the title page, 2 headbands and 2 initials, all engraved on wood. Sturdy, old-style sewn vellum binding, handwritten title on the spine, edges speckled with red (scattered anecdotal soiling on the binding, an ex-libris probably torn from the front endpaper, very slight oxidation of the paper). Description: A very rare first edition published for the play’s official premiere. Printed on 23 March 1669 and ‘Printed at the author’s expense’. The second edition appeared two months after the performance, with the ‘printed’ date given as 6 June 1669, and featured a frontispiece which, in fact, does not appear in this edition. Variants of the title page are known to exist, as it was subject to forgeries (Guibert). In order to retain control over its distribution, Molière did not immediately transfer his printing privilege to his bookseller and financed the first edition himself. A fine copy. A comedy in verse, the first three acts of which had been performed during a grand festival at Versailles on 12 May 1664, the ‘Plaisirs de l’Ile enchantée’, organised by the King for Louise de La Vallière. Molière was targeting the ‘false devout’. But as they had founded, under the auspices of the Queen Mother, Bossuet and President Lamoignon, “La Compagnie du Saint Sacrement”, Louis XIV banned the play, which was prevented from being staged on several occasions, until the Peace of the Church was declared by Clement IX and the religious controversies came to an end even if this had to be achieved at the cost of toning down the virulence of the verses. Long awaited, the play, finally performed on 5 February 1669, was a triumph for Molière. An old sales label on a flyleaf, dated with an old annotation, ‘vedi cat Morgand 1887’, probably from the Bulletin Morgand. The dimensions given correspond perfectly to the copy. Bound with: -XENOPHON. Xenophon’s Symposium, in Mr LeFevre’s version. At Saumur, & sold in Paris, by Thomas Jolly, 1670. (11)-134 pp. A fine copy. -[GILBERT Gabriel, attributed to]. The Perfect Courtier. Tragicomedy. By Monsieur D. G. L. B. T. In Grenoble, published by Jean Nicolas, 1668. (4)-78 pp. Bibliography: Guibert, I, 257–261: ‘This lesson in higher morality, this satire on religious hypocrisy and hypocrisy in general, suddenly appearing amidst games, dances and the most varied pleasures, in the most frivolous and touchy society in the world, was bound to provoke not only surprise but also a terrible uproar’. Tchemerzine, IV, 786.
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About the sale Books & Manuscripts
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Auction time 10/30/2026 at 2:00 PM
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