Paris, Claude Barbin, 1669-1671.
2 volumes small 8vo of : I/ 99 pp. for the Lettre de Huet, (1) p., 441 pp., (1) p.; II/ (2) ll., 536 pp.
Full midnight blue morocco, double blind-stamped fillet around the covers, ribbed spines richly decorated, inner gilt border, gilt over marbled edges. Niedrée.
160 x 100 mm.
First edition of this precious novel by Madame de La Fayette published under the name of Segrais.
Tchemerzine, III, 835; Brunet, III, 743.
An exceptional copy with the title of volume 1 dated 1669, a condition that no bibliographer has reported.
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne married the count of La Fayette in 1655. A former habitué of the Hôtel de Rambouillet, she devoted herself to literature and worldly relations by opening her salon in the Rue de Vaugirard in 1659 to members of high society and “doctes” such as Ménage, Huet and Segrais. This aristocratic and literate milieu perpetuated the tradition of the Hôtel de Rambouillet in all its splendor.
The Countess de La Fayette, in order to avoid the wrath of public opinion, had to borrow the name of her friend Jean de Segrais to publish successively ‘La Princesse de Montpensier’ in 1662 and ‘Zaïde’ in 1670.
This precious and romantic work due essentially to the talent of the countess, supposes however a collaboration of the beautiful spirits of the living room of the street of Vaugirard and in particular of Segrais and of La Rochefoucauld.
“It is known that Segrais of his own admission contributed only to the construction of the novel, to which La Rochefoucauld according to Madame de La Fayette, herself, communicated a little of his spirit “. (Tchemerzine).
When the first volume was finished, Madame de La Fayette gave it to Pierre-Daniel Huet, the famous bishop of Avranches, in whose judgment she had great confidence, like many of her contemporaries.
“I showed letters that Mme de La Fayette had written to me at the time she was composing Zaÿde, in which she sent me this novel piece by piece, to examine it and tell her my opinion, and to make my remarks about it… She does not speak of it as the work of Mr. de Segrais, but as being her own. Besides, Mr. de Segrais, with whom I was linked by a very close friendship, living, eating and sleeping almost always together, would not have needed the mediation of Mme de La Fayette to ask me to examine his work. (P. D. Huet, October 19, 1705).
The very romantic plot of the love story of Consalve, son of the Count of Castile, and Zayde, daughter of the Muslim prince, unfolds in the middle of events worthy of Mademoiselle de Scudéry’s “Grand Cyrus“.
The clear and simple style surpasses that of the gallant novels of the time and announces the sobriety of “La Princesse de Clèves“.
A beautiful copy of this literary original so evocative of the preciosity of the seventeenth century.
Covered with an elegant Niedree binding it comes from the library of Am. Berton.
