Antoine Hamilton - Mémoires du comte de Grammont - 1749

Antoine Hamilton. Memoirs of the Count of Grammont. Sl, sn, 1749, xxxii-315 pp., 340 pp.

2 volumes in-12 (145x85 mm), full calf, smooth spine decorated, title and tome stamps in morocco, red edges (bindings of the period). Missing on the second pasteboard of volume II, headbands trimmed, damp stain in the lower corner of the last pages of volume I, and on the first pages of volume II.

New edition; complete in two volumes

Work by Anthony Hamilton, devoted to the adventurous life of Philibert de Gramont, French courtier, military leader and diplomat of the 17th century.

The work traces the career of the Count of Grammont from his beginnings at the court of France to his exile in England at the court of Charles II of England. Hamilton describes the political intrigues, gallantries, games of ambition, and entertainments of the French and English high society. The narrative gives significant prominence to the English Restoration court, famed for its refinement as much as for its excesses.

Halfway between memoirs, social chronicle, and spiritual novel, the book is distinguished by its elegant, ironic, and lively style. Hamilton crafts less a faithful autobiography than a brilliant and sometimes satirical portrait of the aristocratic world, enriched by anecdotes, portraits of courtiers, and observations on the manners of the time.