Théveneau de Morande - Le Gazetier cuirassé. Remarques historiques & Anecdotes sur le Château de la Bastille. [Reliure - 1777

Second illustrated edition of a curious frontispiece and a folded plan of the 'Château de la Bastille.' Published clandestinely without an author's name, this work is attributed to Théveneau de Morande, according to Barbier. It bears no place but the curious address 'a hundred leagues from the Bastille, at the sign of Liberty' (according to BN Cat. gen. printed in London.

Exiled in England and without resources, Charles Théveneau (1748-1803) had the idea to take the name Morande and publish under this pseudonym violent libels that he secretly smuggled into France, in which he falsely accused indiscriminately all well-known names that appeared under his pen. The Gazetier Cuirassé, first published in 1771, remains the most famous: it is a series of scandalous adventures, where falsehood is mixed with truth and in which the author's imagination is fully engaged. This work can be considered a series of short novels based on real facts but distorted according to Morande's caprice. As it stands, however, it provides curious details about the morals of the time of Louis XV and interesting anecdotes about court characters.

Well detailed is the beautiful frontispiece that depicts 'the newspaperman dressed like a hussar, with a small pointed cap on his head, his face animated with a sardonic laugh, directing from right and left the cannons, bombs, and all the artillery surrounding him'; 'the sheets fluttering through the lightning above the armed man are letters of decree, whose arrival is guaranteed only by the smoke of his artillery, which prevents them from reaching him; the mortars he sets on fire are meant to carry the truth to all the corrupt people, crushing them to make examples of them' (M.S., August 15, 1771; preface).

Set in an elegant binding signed Gaillard, in half-ebony morocco, with a spine decorated with gold-tooled panels, a red morocco title piece, and gilt lettering. Gilt head.
Very fine example. Slight rubbing on the jaws and some marks on the plates. Water stains along the margins of the title page and the frontispiece, discreetly running throughout the work. The ink of the title is slightly faded but still clearly legible. Rare foxing.

Thévenot de Morande
The Armored Journalist, or Scandalous Anecdotes from the French Court.
Followed by: Historical remarks and anecdotes about the Bastille Castle and the Inquisition of France.
Printed a hundred leagues from the Bastille, at the sign of Liberty, [printed in London] 1777
in-8 (17.5 x 11cm); viii-180pp+ 58pp + 1p