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Original engraved copper plate for a frontispiece to the Confessions, showing Rousseau himself as an allegory of the ‘natural man’ and the naked female figure of truth, engraved for volume 12 of the monumental 18 volume large quarto Didot edition of the collected works (1793-1800). An excellent example of an eighteenth-century large format copper plate. Cohen-de Ricci 912; Ray, 95.

First edition, posthumously published, this copy with a fitting provenance, from the library of the Chateau de Cirey. Helvétius had been encouraged in his philosophy by Voltaire, who sent him a copy of his work on Newton and invited him to stay at the Chateau de Cirey. The inscription, though abbreviated is almost certainly that of Diane-Adelaide de Simiane, herself an important literary figure. Her early life was colourful and she came to Cirey in 1795 after a period of incarceration during the Terror. Prior to that she had been married to Charles-François de Simiane, who had served with Lafayette in America and who died in France in 1787. The death was publicly explained as a hunting accident, but the circumstances were mysteriousl and suggest suicide; Charles-François was almost certainly homosexual and his wife Diane-Adélaïde had pursued a long affair with Lafayette in the 1780s. After her husband’s death madame de Simiane never remarried. She amassed a fine library at Cirey.

The introductory biography is by Saint-Lambert. Since the outcry over his De l’Ésprit (1758), Helvétius’ works were all condemned and issued in clandestine editions, usually outside France. Even after his death Le Bonheur was printed in Germany, with a false Londres imprint. The work is listed in Darnton’s, Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France 1769-89, 64. Several editions followed this one, including two others of the same year and the same imprint, but with the title printed in black and/or a different pagination. The first edition is rare. Smith, Bibliography of the writing of Helvétius, B.1; Higgs, Bibliography of Economics, 1751-1775, 5624; Tchemerzine VI, 190a (title pages illustrated).

One of several French editions of 1778. The Way to Wealth first appeared in French as a separate publication in 1775. The original English text was first published in Poor Richard’s Almanac for 1758; separately issued in 1760 under the title: Father Abraham’s Speech and frequently reprinted under the title: The Way to Wealth. La Science du bonhomme Richard was translated by A.F. Quétant; the Interrogatoire de Mr. Franklin by P.S. Dupont de Nemours and the Interrogatoire de M. Penn by A.F. Quétant and J.B. L’Écuy. Ford, Franklin Bibliography, 114

First edition in French of Baker’s popular Reflections upon Learning (1699), a work designed to display the inadequacies of human knowledge and reason and to emphasise the ultimate need for belief in revelation. It proved controversial (provoking an angry response from geologist and physician John Woodward) and was widely reprinted in England. Bacon and Descartes, the twin pillars of scientific civilisation, raised on either side of the English Channel, are closely considered, though the spirit of scientific enquiry is frequently disparaged. The work of a conservative Anglican antiquary, its reception in France is perhaps surprising. The French translation was reprinted at Amsterdam the following year. Rochedieu, p. 15.

A confessor’s manual arranged according to the Scotist system favoured by the Franciscans: a system named after the thirteenth-century Oxford theologian John Duns Scotus. It was first printed in 1713; all editions are rare. Palau 18233. Though widely printed and used OCLC records very few copies of any edition outside Spain. In the US we can locate a copy of the 1757 edition (University of New Mexico) and of the 1724 edition (Saint Bonaventure University NY) only.