Nouvelles historiques

First illustrated edition with 3 title vignettes and 3 figures by Eisen in volume I (as well as 3 pages of engraved music) plus 3 tailpieces and 1 figure by Marillier, 2 by Barbier and 3 title vignettes by Marillier in volume II, plus 3 tailpieces. All engraved by Fessard, Longueil, Née, Delaunay and Halbou. Very fine illustration, very elegant.
Contemporary full calf binding with scale pattern. Spine with raised bands decorated. Red morocco title labels, and green morocco volume labels. Triple-ruled frame on boards. Edges gilt. Small lack to upper joint at head of volume I. Signs of rubbing. Pale scattered foxing. One lack to margin of p. 479. The binder has inverted the volume numbers.

Handsome copy.

Volume I: Salisbury, Varbeck, Le Sire de Crequy.
Volume II: Le Prince de Bretagne, La Duchesse de Chatillon, Le Comte de Strafford.

Most of Baculard d'Arnaud's narratives show an immoderate taste for true anecdotes (historical or picturesque and drawn from various regions: Italy, Germany, Spain) and the author is perfectly representative of this literature that would give rise to the gothic and dark novel. An exacerbated, sparkling sentimentalism animates the author's works, with a certain complacency in depicting evil and a rather morbid pleasure in emotions. Were it not for the framework that often defines the gothic novel, which is absent from d'Arnaud's works (except for Le Comte de Comminges), the author is very close to this movement in late 18th-century literature.