Catherine de LA GUETTE

First edition. OCLC records no copies in North America, though one copy is held at the Houghton Library.

Red 19th-century half-sheepskin binding, title stamped in gilt, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and flyleaves, margins cut slightly affecting the top part of the title-page and the signature on a few leaves. Light scattered foxing throughout.

A very rare copy of one of the most singular and arresting 17th-century memoirs written by a woman, laying bare the exceptional life of a provincial noblewoman under the reign of Louis XIV who bore arms, rode astride, occasionally cross-dressed and even attempted to single-handedly bring the Fronde to an end.