Le Comte de Valmont, ou les Egarements de la raison. Lettres recueillies et publiées par M...

New edition, revised and expanded, the original having appeared in two parts, in 1774 and in 1778.
Contemporary bindings in full speckled brown calf, spines with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons, blonde and black morocco title and volume labels, all edges red. Several headcaps are worn, some small wormholes to note and corners are bumped, otherwise a handsome copy.
The work had enormous impact in Europe and went through more than thirty-five editions. It was praised by Chateaubriand as an example of Christian novel; it is a singular blend of anti-philosophical novel and sentimental novels in the Richardson style, using the epistolary genre then in fashion. The story is that of a young man led astray by his passions and by a pernicious society, a very common theme in the 18th century.