Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de la Calotte

Second edition, augmented with a third part, of this work which first appeared in Basel in 1725. The second volume contains the fifth and sixth parts in first edition, Aux États Calotins (1754), from the Calotine printing house. These Memoirs were published several times until 1754. This edition was published somewhere in Holland. The two volumes do not contain the fourth part, as it did not appear separately, but was integrated into the 1735 edition.
Contemporary full blonde calf bindings. Smooth spines beautifully ornamented, decorative rolls at head and foot. Red morocco title-label and beige morocco volume labels. Minor rubbing to headcaps and corners. One corner slightly bumped. Handsome copy.
The other name of the Calotte regiment was that of the Confraternity of Fools, a secret literary society originally military in nature which was formed under Louis XIV, its principal collaborators, in war against the corruption of morals and the French Academy, were Abbé Guyot-Desfontaine, Piron, Grécourt, Plantavit de la Pause, Gacon, Abbé Macon, etc. The best definition that can be found is given by Picart in his work: Religious ceremonies and customs of all the peoples of the world; here is what he says about it:
« The Calotte regiment owes its birth to some fine minds of the Court, who formed a society some years ago. They proposed to correct morals, to reform the fashionable style by turning it to ridicule, and to erect a tribunal opposed to that of the French Academy. The members of this new company having foreseen that they would not fail to be accused of frivolity on the difficulty of their undertaking, judged it appropriate to take a lead cap, and the name of Calotte Regiment. Here was the occasion: towards the end of Louis XIV's reign, M. de Torsac, exempt of the bodyguards, M. Aymon, the king's valet, and various other officers, having one day made a thousand jokes about a headache from which one of them suffered extremely, proposed a lead cap to the patient. The conversation having heated up, they took it upon themselves to create a regiment composed solely of persons distinguished by the extravagance of their speeches or their actions. They named it the Calotte regiment, in favor of the lead cap; and by unanimous consent sieur Aymon was immediately elected general [...] Several persons of distinction rallied under the standards of the regiment, and each made a serious occupation of pointing out through traits of mockery the defects of the most considerable people, and the faults that escaped them. »
Armorial bookplate of Joseph Justine Pinseau de la Ménardière.