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KÂ- MONDO / KAPANDJI MORHANGE

240 - RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas-Edme.
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Estimate €200 - €300
Sale commission
Description
RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas-Edme. *Les Nouvelles Contemporaines, ou Histoires de quelques femmes du jour*. Paris, Imprimerie de la Société Typographique, les Marchands de Nouveautés, Year 10 – 1802. In-12 (17 x 10 cm), Bradel-style cardboard binding, plain spine. Modern binding. Endpapers replaced. 214–215 pp. Flecks of foxing. Without the frontispiece portrait. First edition of the last book published during Restif de la Bretonne’s lifetime. This collection brings together 24 ‘free’ short stories drawn from his works – notably *Monsieur Nicolas* – and reworked. ‘One of Restif’s unjustly scorned or overlooked books. [...] Credit must be given to Maurice Heine for being the first to highlight the significance of *Nouvelles Contemporaines*, which contains two of these *Revies* (*Denise Page*, *Poline Dumas*) that the author referred to at the end of the *Posthumes*, published a few weeks earlier […]. Like the letters to the Fontaines, these *Nouvelles Contemporaines* – which, incidentally, would have been more accurately titled ‘Les dernières Contemporaines’, are written in a style that is, in places, imbued with a poignant sensitivity which makes so many other 18th-century works seem dry by comparison” (Jean-Claude Courbin, Retif et son oeuvre, cat. Rousseau-Girard, 1961, no. 14669.— Rives Childs, no. XLVII). A fine copy, bound in the 20th century. Two volumes in one.
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About the sale Collectors’ books for sale – First editions – Illustrated editions – Varia IV
Auction location
Auction time 11/02/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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