Mémoires turcs, ou histoire galante de deux turcs, pendant leur séjour en France

Undated new edition, following the first published in 1743. Rare. Edition not listed by Cioranescu, who gives those of 1758 and 1776.
Contemporary marbled brown sheep binding. Decorated raised-band spine. Beige morocco title-label. Head worn. One corner bumped and rubbed. Old restoration paper adhered to the last text page of the first part. Good copy.
In the height of the "turqueries" fashion, and following Marana and Montesquieu, Godard d'Aucourt offers his contribution to this curious literary and artistic genre through the story of a Turk landing in Paris with his beloved slave and confronted with Parisian gallant customs. The first part of the novel being narrated in the first person, and thus from the restrictive viewpoint of a Turkish prince, is not without humor and libertine situations, with the first hundred pages recounting the narrator's passionate love affairs in Turkey in the form of an oriental tale. The second part is an exchange of letters between the narrator and one of his slaves, in which he recounts the story of his loves.
Stamp on title page: L. Sigardi fils.