Histoire du chevalier Grandisson

New edition. Translated by Abbé Prévost, with his introduction.
Full marbled glazed calf binding, spine with raised bands decorated. One tear to joint at headcap.
"Richardson était l'inventeur de la tragédie bourgeoise [...] Il a inventé ce roman où l'art consiste à négliger tous les préceptes de l'art, où l'accumulation de détails étrangers à l'action, où la répétition des mêmes scènes et des mêmes sentiments, produisent plus d'effet que la précision, le goût, la justesse et l'ordre n'en ont jamais produit" (Richardson was the inventor of bourgeois tragedy [...] He invented this novel where art consists in neglecting all the precepts of art, where the accumulation of details foreign to the action, where the repetition of the same scenes and the same sentiments, produce more effect than precision, taste, accuracy and order have ever produced). AUGUSTIN FILON, Histoire de la littérature anglaise : depuis ses origines jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, Hachette, 1883. Abbé Prévost did not content himself with translating Richardson's novel, he arranged and reworked it; not liking the ending, he probably rewrote it, and it is this version that circulated throughout Europe and made Richardson's reputation, while the original comprised 28 volumes that Prévost reduced to 8, systematically cutting the verbosity and characteristic prolixity of Richardson.

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