Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix - Essais historiques sur Paris - 1766-1777

SAINT-FOIX (Germain-François Poullain de)

Historical Essays on Paris.

Paris, at the Widow Duchesne’s, 1766-1777.

7 volumes in octavo (16.5 x 9 cm), marbled calf (binding of the period), smooth spine ornamented, title and volume labels in morocco, triple gilt border framing the covers, red edges, 370; 336; x-11 to 374; 235; 239-139-[1]; 487; 405-[3] pages. Half-title in volumes II and V missing, corners worn, heads rubbed, beginning of split (4 cm) at the upper hinge of volume I. Overall good condition.

Note: pagination errors inherent to the edition.

Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait by L.J. Cathelin after Pougain de Saint-Aubin.

Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix (1698-1776), who served for up to thirty-six years in the musketeers (distinguished himself at Guastalla in 1734), then left the army and bought a post as master of waters and forests in Rennes. He had already published in 1721 a first comedy, Pandore. In 1740, he decided to devote himself to letters and settled in Paris where he became a fashionable author. He wrote about twenty comedies. Of a quarrelsome temperament, Poullain de Saint-Foix is remembered as much for his repartees and duels as for his literary works. His comedies are forgotten today, but his “Historical Essays on Paris” remain sought after.

The work aims “to make known by facts and anecdotes the character, manners, and customs” of France. It is a succession of observations and anecdotes that aim to show, beyond the differences in practices, the unity of the human race.

A pleasant copy.