Théâtre

First collected edition. It is illustrated with a frontispiece, repeated in both volumes, a title vignette by Picart also repeated, and 10 unsigned figures, quite charming, showing the actors on stage.
Later full brown sheep binding (circa 1800). Spine with raised bands and fillets. Tan morocco title label. Headcaps worn.
Contemporaries saw in La Grange-Chancel the successor to Racine. He boasted of having the highest capacity for writing verse. His connections brought him to Louis XIV who asked Racine to read it, and the latter sponsored the author's first play. Many of his plays met with fine success, and the author represents, if not a great dramatist, the taste of an era for a certain kind of theater. Most of the subjects of his plays are drawn from the novels of Calprenède, whom he particularly favored.
The preface might more justly be called Memoirs of La Grange-Chancel, as he recounts his rise from childhood to the launch of his first play, Jugurtha.
19th-century engraved armorial bookplate: Le Proux.