CHAPELAIN Jean Les Sentimens de l’Académie françoise sur la tragi-comedie du Cid

Catalogue James de  Rothschild, n° 1143 ; Tchemerzine-Scheler, II, 235 ; Picot, Bibliographie cornélienne, n° 1380 ; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 379 ; Bulletin Morgand,  n° 7835 (“Ce fut Chapelain que l’Académie nomma pour recueillir ses observations”) ; voir bibliothèque Hector de Backer, II, no. 852. Not in Brunet.

First edition of the first book published by the Académie française.

For its first publication, the Académie faced a thorny problem: not only did it take up a quarrel that was stirring up the French literary sphere between the supporters of the Cid and his opponents, at a time when hundreds of libels were appearing in response to each other; it also exposed itself to a legal problem. According to its statutes, the Académie could only examine works by its members. For other writers, it could only issue opinions. However, Corneille and the many quarrels he sparked off were well worth a closer look.

The success of Le Cid strengthened Corneille’s ego, and on 20 February 1637 he published L’Excuse à Ariste in response to the first criticisms:

« Je sais ce que je vaux, et crois ce qu’on m’en dit.    
[…]
J’arrache quelquefois trop d’applaudissements ;    
[…]
Je ne dois qu’à moi seul toute ma renommée,    
Et pense, toutefois, n’avoir point de rival    
A qui je fasse tort en le traitant d’égal… »

This overconfidence did not please the playwrights and other academics, and Georges de Scudéry responded anonymously to Corneille by publishing his Observations sur le Cid. The latter, supported by Richelieu, continued his enterprise and in June 1637 published a Lettre de Mr de Scudery a l’Illustre Académie, in which he asked for an examination of Le Cid. ” Illustre ” was then an ambitious adjective. In 1637, the Académie was still very young (the letters patent intended for official registration, although drafted in 1635, were not accepted until 9 July 1637).

Scudéry’s demand was considerable. Jean Chapelain prepared the study, which was long and laborious. However, he was not alone: commissioners were appointed to protect the young academy, which had to build up its public image, from any possible damage. There was still a legal issue to resolve. 

While the academicians, led by Chapelain and Valentin Conrart, had already begun work on their examination of Le Cid, they requested Corneille’s consent to the publication of their Sentimens. This was obtained on 13 June 1637: “Messieurs de l’Académie peuvent faire ce qu’il leur plaira” (Pellison, p.126).

The publication of the Sentiments de l’Académie française sur la tragi-comédie du Cid was the final stage in the quarrel. On 30 June 1637, Chapelain presented his memoir to the Académie and then to Richelieu. Richelieu corrected it in several places, as can be seen from the manuscript kept at the BNF, which includes numerous notes “in the hand of M. Citois, his first doctor”. It was finally published at the end of the year after a privilege was granted on 26 November.

The book was widely distributed, bringing an end to the quarrel thanks to the official judgement of the Académie. It was a double success for the Académie, which became widely known thanks to this publication and succeeded in asserting its authority as a learned society.  

However, the quarrel had long repercussions on the French dramatic landscape and on the Académie. Corneille, disappointed by the conclusions of his peers, did not stand for election to the Académie until after Richelieu’s death in 1644, and was finally elected on 22 January 1647 after several rejections. 

Small worm gallery in the upper margin affecting the first third of the book but not affecting the text.

A fine copy in its contemporary binding.