MARIE-ANTOINETTE. - THEATRE DE CAMPAGNE, ou recueil... Lot 50

[MARIE-ANTOINETTE]. - THEATRE DE CAMPAGNE, ou recueil de parades les plus amusantes, propres au délassement de l'esprit ; joué sur des théâtres bourgeois. À Nugopolis, et se trouve à Paris, chez la veuve Duchesne, 1767. In-8, 5 parts in multiple pagination and signature with general title and some particular titles, speckled tawny calf, smooth partitioned spine adorned with a repeated gilt dauphin iron and gilt fleuron, with gilt crowned "CT" figure at tail, triple gilt fillet framing the boards with corner fleurons and gilt queen's coat of arms in center, filleted edges, gilt inner roulette, red speckled edges ; spines, headpieces and corners discreetly restored, a few stains on the boards (period binding). MOST COMPLETE VERSION OF THIS COLLECTION OF COMEDIES, which was put together in several versions: in its first version, published in 1755 by Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne, it was entitled Théâtre de campagne ou les Débauches de l'esprit and included 5 plays. In 1758, in its second version, under the same title and with the same publisher, it was augmented by the comedy Les Deux cookies, before being completed here with the widow Duchesne, Marie-Antoinette Cailleau, by a seventh play, La Mort de Bucéphale. Nugopolis, in the book's address, is a fanciful composition on the Greek word polis, city, and the Latin word nugæ, bagatelles, sornettes, petits riens. BOUFFONES FARCES SERVING IN AN ELEVATED PARODIC STYLE A VOLUNTARY EROTIC OR EVEN SCABER PROPOSAL: [Rousseau (Pierre)]. LA MORT DE BUCEPHALE, a burlesque tragedy in one act and in verse. 30 pp. numbered 3 to 32. Originally published in 1749. - Grandval (Charles-François Racot de)]. L'EUNUQUE ou la Fidèle infidélité. Parade, mixed prose and verse. 47-(one blank) pp. Piece originally published in 1750 - [Grandval (Nicolas Racot de)]. AGATHE, tragedy. 50 pp. numbered 3 to 52. Copy of the edition given separately in 1756 by Duchesne, without its title leaf. This comedy originally appeared in Duchesne's 1755 collection. - Grandval (Charles-François Racot de)]. LES DEUX BISCUITS, tragedy. With special title page: Se vend à Astracan [Paris], chez un libraire, 1759. 31-(une blanche) pp. Copy of the separate 1759 edition of this play originally published in 1752. - Grandval (Nicolas Racot de) or Sulpice-Edme Gaubier de Barrault]. LE POT DE CHAMBRE CASSE, tragédie pour rire, ou comédie pour pleurer. With private title page: À Ridiculomanie, chez Georges l'Admirateur, [1749]. 48 pp. Copy of the 1749 edition. - Grandval (Charles-François Racot de)]. SIROP-AU-CUL ou l'Heureuse délivrance. 48 pp. Originally published in 1752. - Boudin (Pierre) ou Jean-Joseph Vadé]. MADAME ENGUEULE, or the Accords poissards, comedy-parade. 48 pp. Piece in poissard language, originally published in 1754. Comedians Charles-François Racot de Grandval, known as Grandval fils, and Henri-Louis Cain, known as Lekain, had joined forces to set up a clandestine theater in the then rural Rue Blanche, where they could perform light, even scabrous comedies, some of them written by Grandval fils himself - Antoine-René d'Argenson, Marquis de Paulmy, was a familiar face. A copy bearing the coat of arms of Queen Marie-Antoinette (OHR, pl. n° 2508, iron n° 4, in intermediate format) WITH COURNNE CHIFFRE DE LA BIBLIOTHEQUE DU PETIT-TRIANON (gilt on tail of spine, irons absent from OHR). "IL SEMBLE AVOIR ETE LE SEUL DE CE GENRE A TRIANON" (Françoise Bléchet, in Eros invictus). As soon as Marie-Antoinette arrived in France, a core library was built up for her by Abbé Claude-François Lysarde de Radonvilliers, sub-preceptor to the Enfants de France, and entrusted to the care of historian and lawyer Jacob-Nicolas Moreau, who took his role with the utmost seriousness. However, Marie-Antoinette did not get on well with Jacob-Nicolas Moreau, no doubt due to intrigues, and entrusted the task of enriching her library to her secretary Pierre-Dominique Berthollet dit Campan, whom she also appointed as stage manager of her small theater. Thus, Marie-Antoinette had two libraries, one at Versailles, where more austere works were kept, and the other at Trianon, where she collected mainly novels and theater, in volumes bound as here in calf with her coat of arms and "CT" numeral. Marie-Antoinette was particularly fond of this type of reading, as witnesses such as her chambermaid Henriette Campan and the Austrian ambassador Florimond de Mercy-Argenteau have attested. Drama was also her favorite pastime, and she organized performances in her private theaters, in which she herself took part. BOOKS BEARING MARIE-ANTOINETTE'S COAT OF ARMS ARE RARE IN PRIVATE HANDS. In 1789, the books owned by Marie-Antoinette at Versailles followed her to the Tuileries when she moved in with Louis XVI.