Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane

Fourth edition statement for volumes 1 to 3 and first edition of the fourth volume which appeared for the first time in 1735 (published by Pierre-Jacques Ribou). The first 2 volumes were initially published in 1715. Editions of Gil Blas are rare before 1750. The edition is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and 26 unsigned figures (8 in volume 1, 10 in volume 2 and 8 in volume 3), there are none in volume 4 in its first edition.
Contemporary full glazed and speckled brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Red morocco title labels, brown morocco volume labels. Headcaps of volumes II and III worn revealing the headbands. pp. 163 to 168 in volume IV, 3 brown spots in outer margin. Signs of rubbing. Some corners slightly bumped.
It is now perfectly established that one cannot accuse Lesage's immortal masterpiece of plagiarism, the last baroque flame of the picaresque novel; if Lesage drew his material from elsewhere, it remains nonetheless that Gil Blas is an original and personal work. We find the misadventures of a picaro, as roguish as possible, who through his multiple encounters creates a satirical portrait of contemporary society. Two influences mark the novel's inspiration: the picaresque inspiration that Lesage diverts since his hero will succeed in climbing the social ladder, and ancient inspiration whose division into 12 books recalls that of the Aeneid. The work would occupy the author for 20 years. "In writing Gil Blas, in endowing his work with the qualities that assured it extensive and lasting success, Lesage was therefore on one hand the heir of Mateo Alemán, of Cervantes, of Espinel, of Quevedo, and through them of Apuleius; but, on the other hand, he preserved the flexibility, I dare say the 'polyvalence' indispensable to an art form that would be illustrated by the Balzac of the Human Comedy, the Stendhal of the Charterhouse of Parma, the Thackeray of Vanity Fair, and Zola, and Tolstoy, and many others after them." Jules Romain.