Le Théâtre espagnol, ou les meilleures comédies des plus fameux auteurs espagnols

First edition. Translation by Lesage.
Contemporary binding in full blonde sheep. Spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and fleurons. Gilt roulette on the edges and headcaps. Head restored, otherwise good copy.
This volume is the first that Lesage provides of Spanish plays from the Golden Age. We know that other French authors of the 17th century provided adaptations of Spanish theater, but the translations were nearly contemporary and one may question Lesage's project of adapting plays that might seem outdated in the eyes of the public. Lesage explains himself in the preface which is a sort of demonstration of his aesthetic project: to renovate the scene of French comedy through the contribution of foreign dramaturgy while preserving the study of characters proper to French writing. Now, the plays presented are indeed adaptations and not merely translations, Lesage moves from the three-act play of Spanish theater to the five acts of French comedy, he substitutes a prose style for the metrical style. The work contains the plays Le Traistre puni and Don Felix de Mendoce.