Editions published the same year as the originals, “to the profit of a charitable organization”.
Carteret, I, p. 250 ; Vicaire, III, 535 ; Clouzot, p. 114 ; Vicaire, 535 ; Barbier II, 31 ; Quérard, II, 723 ; Brunet, II, 908.
First edition issued for sale of these two works. The first edition of Ourika was published the same year without a title-page, printed by the royal printing house in only 25-40 copies for the friends of the family.
“Under the Restoration the literary Salon of Mme de Duras was one of the most brilliant”.
With Ourika, for the first time in European literature a white writer penetrates into a black consciousness with elegance and sincerity, allowing white readers to identify with the character.
The publication of Ourika in 1824 was one of the hugest successes among feminine novels. Instantly popular, this novel drew with finesse the story of a young black slave in love with the son of her protector.
« A best seller under Louis XVIII ». [Lucien Scheler in Le Bulletin du bibliophile, Paris, 1988].
A beautiful copy of this collection of two great texts by the Duchess of Duras preserved in an elegant uniform binding from the time.
Provenance: ex libris of the countess Victoire de Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1775-1851), the wife of the governor of the Louvre and a contemporary of Mme de Duras.