RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE. THE VIRTUOUS FAMILY. Letters translat - Lot 52

RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE. THE VIRTUOUS FAMILY. Letters translated from English. Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1767. 4 volumes in-12 of 35-[1]-251; 288; 300; 299-[13] pages, half basane with corners, spine ribbed and decorated, red edges (slightly later binding). THIS ROMANCE IS THE FIRST THAT RESTIF COMPOSED AND PUBLISHED; it took him a long time to write it, and he tells us how, as a protege at Quillau's, he became a novelist and how he put together the elements of his first work. It has never been reprinted or forged, and had a limited edition, which is rare for the period. Some foxing and spotting, 2 stained pages. (Lacroix, p. 77) (Rives-Childs, p. 197). Provenances: Jean Sam Ekmanson, publisher (signature dated 1780) - Christ. Eichhorn (with bookplate) - Stel. et Mart. Vennersten (modern bookplate).