Oeuvres complettes

First collected edition. One portrait frontispiece and 2 engravings by Marillier in the second volume (one of these engravings is often missing). Half-titles and titles in red and black.
Full blonde sheep binding, slightly later. Smooth spine decorated with compartments and rolls. Red morocco title label, and black morocco volume label with rolls. Some corners slightly bumped. A thin tear at head of volume I. Handsome copy.
The posthumous edition, two years after the author's death, is distributed as follows: Volumes I and II: Theatre and the Turkish Letters; Volumes III, IV, and V: Historical Essays on Paris; Volume VI: History of the Order of the Holy Spirit (of which Saint-Foix was appointed historiographer in 1764). One should not forget the character that was Saint-Foix, who served until age 36 in the Musketeers, seeking literary glory with his twenty or so plays, of a rough and quarrelsome spirit. His two historical books are naturally important and notable. The essays on Paris do not constitute a History of the capital, but an attempt to grasp as closely as possible, through history, the spirit of a people.