CURIOSA. Lettres galantes et philosophiques de... Lot n° 9

[CURIOSA]. Lettres galantes et philosophiques de deux nones [sic], published by an apostle of libertinism. With notes. Paris, Year II of the French Republic. Fort in-16 of (2) ff., 172 pp. 4 plates: long-grained blue morocco, spine with four false nerves decorated with a rich décor of small iron, mosaic red morocco lozenges and scrolls, double framing of gilt fillets framing the boards with rosettes of gilt fillets in the corners, decorated edges, two gilt roulettes framing the inside, linings and endpapers of pink moire, gilt edges (period binding). First illustrated edition: four free-form figures engraved outside the text. This libertine epistolary novel reproduces letters supposedly exchanged between two nuns: Sister Christine, an Ursuline nun, and Sister Agathe, a Carmelite nun. It was first published in 1777, without illustrations. This new edition was published during the French Revolution, and features four copper engravings outside the text. As Pascal Pia notes, "the two lines [by Petronius] quoted as an epigraph on the title page are almost identical to the couplet that the Marquis de Sade later placed at the head of his Nouvelle Justine: 'One is not a criminal for painting the tender sentiments inspired by nature. An exceptional copy printed on parchment, with the figures colored at the time. The engravings were printed on very fine parchment, cut to the frame and mounted on stronger vellum leaves. In his catalog of books printed on vellum, van Praet mentions Chardin's copy with original drawings (II, p. 262, no. 563): the present copy would be the only other copy to have been printed in this way. Beautiful contemporary decorated binding in the Bozerian style. One is stunned by such luxury - a copy on parchment and richly decorated morocco - in the midst of the French Revolution. Ex-libris Gérard Nordmann (I, 2006, n° 2013). (Pia, Les Livres de l'Enfer, col. 797: for the original 1777 edition and the 1797 reprint).