de Marsy - Almanach des Muses - 1775-1776

Almanach des Muses 1775 and 1776.
No place of publication, no publisher. 1775. In-12. 328 + 262 pages. Period binding in full marbled morocco with a smooth spine richly adorned and with title and date pieces in red morocco. Red edges. A pencil drawing depicting a dog’s head on the verso of the title page for the year 1776.
Rare original edition of this almanac which served well, as shown by its period binding with multiple rubs and epidermal wear with losses at the corners, headpieces, worn joints, cracked spine… No title page. Some gathering irregularities.
The Almanach des Muses is a poetic review founded in 1765 by Sautreau de Marsy.
Almanacs enjoyed immense vogue from the second half of the 18th century onward. The aim of the Almanach des Muses was to surpass what appeared at the time by offering readers a critical selection of recent poetry, with critical notes and information on poetic happenings. Published each year from its founding date until 1833, the Almanach des Muses featured many authors who were little known such as Parny, Bertin, Régnault de Beaucaron, Roucher, Légier, Colardeau or Berquin, Legouvé, Bonnard, Arnault, Laclos, better known as Boufflers, Delille, Dorat, de Fontanes, La Harpe, or very well known as Chamfort, Beaumarchais or Baculard d’Arnaud, and above all Voltaire, who contributed more than two hundred texts between 1765 and 1819.

The Almanach des Muses was at once heavily criticized and widely imitated. Mercier, Rivarol, or Champcenetz did not refrain from attacking it, even ridiculing it, for example by nickname it the Almanach des Buses. This, together with its eclectic character, caused its end with the birth of the modern literary review.

Original editions of this fine testament to its era, containing numerous texts in first edition by well-known or lesser-known authors, enriched by a charming pencil drawing of a dog’s head…