RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE. INGENUE SAXANCOURT ou la femme séparé - Lot 83

RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE. INGENUE SAXANCOURT ou la femme séparée: Histoire propre à démontrer, combien il est dangereux pour les Filles, de se marier par entêtement, et avec précipitation, malgré leurs Parens. Written by herself. Liège, et se trouve à Paris, chés Maradan, Libraire, rue des Noyers, 1789. 3 parts of 248-[4]-240-[4]-260-[8] pages bound in 3 volumes in-12, red morocco, triple gilt fillet on covers, highly ornate ribbed spine, inner gilt lace, gilt edges (Chambolle-Duru). In this novel, Restif exceeded all the limits of the most audacious cynicism, and the two heroes, Jehan de Vert and Ingénue, are said to be himself and his eldest daughter Agnès. Unique edition "Absolutely impossible to find" according to Lacroix. "This is the rarest of all Restif's editions, either because the edition was destroyed en bloc, or because the copies were systematically sought out to be destroyed one after the other. The entire edition must have undergone retrenchments, and pages 249 to 252 are almost always missing." (Rives-Childs p. 308). Unbound copy, complete with pages 249-252 of volume III and the 8-page prospectus of Les Provinciales, which must be part of the last volume. A fine copy in ideal condition, bound by Chambolle-Duru. (Rives-Childs, 307-309) (Lacroix, pp.313-319). (Gay II, 660). Provenance: Alfred Piet library (ex-libris, n°311 in the catalog of his 1902 sale).