RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)

Lot 165
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)
Monsieur Nicolas or The Human Heart Revealed. Published by himself. Printed at the House and is in Paris, 1794-1797. 18 parts in 16 volumes in-12, paperback, untrimmed, paper cover, modern green half-maroquin slipcase. Rives-Child, pp. 330-334, XLIV. - In French in the text, n°198. Extremely rare first edition of Restif's capital and most extraordinary work. The print run of the first eight parts was 450 copies, that of the last eight about 225, the engravings and portraits announced were never engraved. Precious intimate confession, printed by its author, and whose total typographical originality accentuates the unique aspect that Restif was looking for: The living author does not need any privilege to ensure his property: his book is his own like his finger, like his hand... I am a living book, oh my reader! read me. Suffer my lengths, my calms, my storms and my inequalities! He composed and edited it himself, day by day and most of the time without a manuscript, accompanying each volume with curious notes: a project for a subscription, a description of the prints he would have liked, a review of the previous works and an analysis of those planned, a table of the Kalendrier which will fill the 13th volume and will be the story of the hundreds of women whom Restif had known and whom he will celebrate, addresses to the reader, insisting on the novelty of the picture he paints of the Romantic sentiments. In spite of his efforts, his masterpiece did not sell any more than most of his other productions. An unbound paperback copy with a simple marbled paper cover from the beginning of the 19th century, at which time a stock of unsold copies was probably discovered and summarily bound.
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