Lou-Chou-Chu-La

First edition, rare. Title in red and black.
Contemporary brown sheep. Spine richly decorated in compartments. Red morocco title- and volume- labels (nicely decorated). Upper joint of volume one split at head. 5 corners bumped. Rubbing. A few scratches and scrapes to covers. Spotting to first three leaves of each volume. Brown stain to edge of first volume, touching a few leaves. Quite a good copy nonetheless, with attractive spines.
This licentious and erotic fairytale, which plays on the contemporary fashion of fantastical Orientalism, proved very popular as soon as it was published, though the subject of some scandal. It led to the author being accused of obscenity and impiety; some people even saw it as a critique of the Unigenitus Bull (targeting Jansenism) and Cardinal Rohan. Crébillon was imprisoned as a result of these accusations. Tanzaï is a political fairy-tale like story, the strangeness of whose plot never fails to surprise the reader, the entire story revolving around a golden straining spoon with a giant handle.
The limitless inventiveness of fiction is well illustrated by this work of Crébillon fils’, which inspired Voltaire to write in 1735: “I know of nothing else as madcap as this book. Had I written it, I would have been burned.”