VENDU
2 volumes 8vo (214 x 132 mm) of 330 pp. for volume I; 324 pp. for volume II. Contemporary red-morocco backed long grained boards, flat spines gilt, with the gilt crowned cipher ‘ML’ on each cover.
1 in stock
Clouzot, 98 ; Vicaire, III, 363 ; not in Carteret.
First edition of this rare novel. Empress Marie-Louise’s copy.
This melodrama was published the same year as The Three Musketeers, Epstein’s Castle, Amaury, and others. This little-known novel by Alexandre Dumas, in a thoroughly romantic vein, deals with the exile of the aristocracy after the fall of Louis XVI and the difficulty for some members of the court to accept the situation.
The characters navigate between the hope of a return to France, the decline of their fortunes and their social decline. It is also a tragic love story with Homerian accents, as Cécile embroiders her wedding dress while waiting for her beloved to return.
Provenance
A fine copy with full margins having belonged to Marie-Louise of Austria (1791-1841), Empress of the French from 1810 to 1814. It bears her crowned monogram on each cover.
Minor foxing.
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