Oeuvres

First collected edition. Title pages in red and black.
Contemporary full calf bindings with scale pattern. Decorated raised band spines. Red morocco title labels. Head caps slightly worn; same for 6 tail caps. Upper joints of volumes II, III, IV, V, VIII, IX and X partly cracked. Many corners bumped. Most half-titles were not bound into the volumes. Despite these defects, a set with good general appearance, decorative.
In addition to the poetic, dramatic, and critical works, and the fables, this edition contains various letters about De La Motte and his famous correspondence with the Duchess of Lambert at the end of his life. It should be noted that he was the author of L'Europe Galante and thereby introduced three innovations to opera: ballet, pastoral, and comedy-ballet. But more than for his fables or tragedies, although they enjoyed considerable success in their time, he should be remembered for his critical writings and the place the author occupied in the literary life of his time, notably in the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, De La Motte having repeatedly defended the party of the Moderns, advocating the use of prose in theater and poetry, questioning any pre-established rule that might constrain creation.