![LOUVET DE COUVRAY, [Jean-Baptiste].](/photos/429/main/full_429.jpg "LOUVET DE COUVRAY, [Jean-Baptiste].")
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13 vols. bound in 7, the first 12 in pairs, the last, alone. 18mo (130 × 80 mm), pp. [iv], 160; [iv], 148; [iv], 175, [1]; [iv], 166; [iv], 192; [iv], xii; 185, [1]; [iv], 198; [iv], 151, [1]; [iv], 178; [iv], [iv], 155, [1]; [iv], 177, [1]; [iv], 175, [1]; xii, 192, including all half-titles and titles, plus 13 engraved frontispieces by Lorieux after P.J. Challiou. Some volumes lightly dampstained or browned, a few marginal tears and flaws resulting from careless opening, never affecting text. Slightly later dark green half-sheep (probably Italian), spines gilt. Extremities rubbed, corners knocked. Bookplates ‘Tito Du Clou’. A good, sound set.
First collected edition and the first with illustrations of a best-selling licentious novel. The work comprises the three parts previously issued separately: Une Année de la vie du chevalier de Faublas (1787), Six semaines de la vie du chevalier de Faublas (1788) and La Fin des amours du chevalier de Faublas (1790). ‘Faublas, the amiable hero, is the victim of his own charms. His amorous adventures recounted with a certain lively force, begin with his entry into society at the age of sixteen. He loves several women by the way and three in particular. A jealous husand and a despairing suicide note reduce the three to one. The novel ends on a moral note: Faublas, who had hoped to settle down with his remaining love, is haunted by the avenging phantoms of the other two and goes mad’ (Oxford Companion to French Literature).
Gay I, 175 (giving 1789-1790 as the date of this edition, apparently in error); this edition not in Cioranescu.
£800.00
(equal to approx. US$1266.78* or €989.37* for 22 May 2012)
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