[BINDING] - Fontenelle - Lettres Galantes - 1701

Elegance of Eroticism: Gallantry as an Art and as a Mask
Beautiful and intact 19th-century link in full green Moroccan style.
Bernard de Fontenelle's Le Lettres galantes belongs to that refined moment in late Seventeenth-century French culture when erotic writing becomes an exercise in style, intelligence, and control. Attributed to the 'chevalier d’Her***', the letters deliberately play on the border between sincerity and artifice, transforming gallantry into a codified social language. The work, more than telling a story, puts on a scene a way of speaking about love—ironic and light, typical of the cultivated and cosmopolitan salons of modern Europe.
Market value
Pierre Mortier's editions of Lettres galantes, especially when paired with 19th-century artistic bindings in Moroccan leather with lace, generally range between 1,300 and 1,700 euros, with higher values for copies in excellent condition and with particularly rich gilded decorations.

Physical description and condition - collector's copy
Magnificent and intact 19th-century binding in full green Moroccan leather, with a frame of triple fillet on the boards framing a second double fillet frame with stylized flowers at the corners; five-ribbed spine with floral decorations and gold titles; gilded dentelles; marbled paper endpapers; gilded edges. Ex libris applied to the front endpaper. Volume with a wood-engraved view of Amsterdam on the title page in red and black, with headpieces and tailpieces in woodcut. Pages with foxing, small tears on pages 129–132; restorations to the title page. In old books, with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present that are not always noted in the description. Pages (2); 14 preliminary pages; 206 pages; (2) blank pages.

Full title and author
Gallant Letters of Monsieur le Chevalier d’Her.
Amsterdam, at Pierre Mortier's place, 1701.
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

Context and Significance
Gallant Letters fit into the tradition of French social prose, where love is treated as an intellectual game and an occasion for rhetorical brilliance. The attribution to Fontenelle, an author capable of combining scientific spirit and literary lightness, reinforces the work's value as a document of a culture that favors moderation, irony, and cultivated conversation. This type of writing foreshadows the 18th-century success of the epistolary novel and sentiment literature controlled by reason.

Biography of the Author
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle was born in 1657 and died in 1757. A writer, philosopher, and science communicator, he was one of the most enduring and influential figures of French culture between the 17th and 18th centuries. A member of the Académie française, he was able to make complex topics accessible with an elegant and brilliant style, leaving a lasting mark on European prose.

Printing history and circulation
Pierre Mortier was one of the most important publishers in Amsterdam between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, known for the international dissemination of French texts intended for a European audience. His editions, often printed with great typographical care, circulated widely thanks to the Dutch commercial network and became prized objects for high-quality bindings produced in subsequent centuries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, J.-C., Manual for booksellers and book lovers.
Tchemerzine, A., Bibliography of original and rare editions by French authors.
Chartier, R., The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution.