Paris, Gabriel Quinet, 1663.
12mo [141 x 82 mm] of (5) ll., 117 numbered pages and 1 unnumbered page for the privilege. Red Jansenist morocco, spine ribbed, inner gilt border, gilt edges. Trautz-Bauzonnet.
First edition of the earliest of Moliere’s great plays.
Tchemerzine, IV, 772 ; Guibert, I, 94.
Guibert wrongly distinguishes two issues of the first edition: issue A is in fact a counterfeit.
Our copy has all the characteristics of the issue qualified as b by guibert and which constitutes the first edition.
In the chronology of official performances, this is the very first comedy by Molière which marks the starting point of the author’s fame. It was first performed in Lyons in 1655, then on November 3, 1658 in the Salle du petit Bourbon located near the Vieux Louvre in Paris, where it was received with great enthusiasm by the public of the time.
Molière’s first comedy for the joyful fantasy that unfolds in it, the scenic skill, and finally the savoury and colourful language, so much admired by Victor-Hugo, it was a tremendous success.
Copy bound in red morocco by Trautz-Bauzonnet.
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