VENDU
3 parts in 1 volume, 8vo (164 x 91 mm) 2 nn.ll., XIII, 174 pp., 2 nn.ll., 2 engraved plates for part I; 1 nn.l. 204 pp., 2 nn.ll., 2 engraved plates for part II; 9 nn.ll., 267 pp., 2 nn.ll., 2 engraved plates for part III. Contemporay marbled sheep, spine gilt with raised bands, red edges (some light restoration).
1 in stock
See Utopies (cat.), BnF, 2000, p. 142 ; PMM, 185 (for the edition London 1726).
Fine Dutch edition of Swift's masterpiece.
The first two parts contain Gulliver's Travels in the classic translation by Abbé Desfontaines, first published in 1727. The third part contains an adaptation in "Gulliverian" key of the Histoire des Sévarambes by Denis Vairasse d'Allais (c. 1635-1672), "obscur soldat et avocat sans causes qui s'autoproclame (…) législateur génial et fondateur d'utopie". THis ficticious travel account, first published in 1677, is the "la plus achevée des utopies romanesques, (…) habile équilibre entre la statistique fictive et le voyage imaginaire… L'héliocratie des Sévarambes, c'est en quelque sorte le prestige du Roi-Soleil plus la liberté de conscience. Avec de surcroît, pour le bonheur de tous, l'absence de propriété privée et de noblesse héréditaire" (Frank Lestringant, cat Utopies, loc. cit.).
Illustrated with 6 fine copper plates, unsigned.
Good copy.
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