MEMOIRES HISTORIQUES ET SECRETS CONCERNANT LES AMOURS DES ROIS DE FRANCE.
Avec quelques autres Pieces dont on verra les Titres en la Page suivante. Pp. vi+304, title page printed in red & black; f'cap. 12mo; early red morocco, spine with gilt lettered brown leather title label, decorated in gilt compartments between raised bands, boards with triple gilt rule border and gilt edges, a trifle rubbed; a.e.g.; ribbon marker; marbled endpapers; small surface graze to upper pastedown, early inked annotation on verso of upper free endpaper, faint damp stain to bottom fore-corner of first couple of leaves, a few spots of foxing; Vis a vis le Cheval de Bronze, Paris, 1739. First edition. *Historical and secret memoirs concerning the loves of the kings of France. With some other pieces, attributed to Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens (1704-1771]. Much of the text is based on Histoire et recherches des antiquites de la ville de Paris, by Henri Sauval (1623-1676). Argens, who was a friend of Voltaire and other Enlightenment figures, spent much of his life in exile at the court of Frederick the Great. He published several volumes of letters, and six novels. The 'other pieces' in the present volume include an essay on the origins and progress in France of Syphilis: Le Mal de Naples; son origine et ses Progres en France. Item #184652
Price: $1,200.00