Lettres d'Adélaïde de Dammartin, Comtesse de Sancerre, à Monsieur le Comte de Nance son ami

Second edition, published after the first edition of 1767.
Contemporary full glazed calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Red morocco title label. One wormhole on the title label, 2 on the upper board. A pale dampstain in the margin of the first 3 leaves; a tear with loss to leaf 71, without any damage to the text.
Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni (1713-1792) was, after being a mediocre actress by necessity, a novelist highly appreciated in her time, to such an extent that her peers refused to acknowledge that the author was a woman. Her first novel had immediate success and the following ones were even better received, praised for the fineness of style and the interest of details, placing Madame Riccoboni among the best novelists of the 18th century. Her work is above all a reflection of the feminine condition of her time, while at the same time paving the way for Romanticism by affirming the primacy of the heart over reason and social conventions. This novel is that of a group of women made independent by widowhood, and finally liberated.