La vraye histoire comique de Francion

New edition, after the original of 1623. This edition is illustrated with 2 charming frontispieces and 11 unsigned figures. Each of the figures has an upper and lower part, as if they were two vignettes. All the illustrations have fine contrast and have been perfectly printed. This edition by the Hackes is part of the Elsevier collection. "The most attractive and most sought-after edition". Brunet III, 1931.
Later bindings (mid-19th century) in full green morocco, signed C. Hardy. Spine with five raised bands decorated with blind compartments. Double blind fillet on boards. Gilt decorative board-edges framing the pastedowns. All edges gilt. Spine slightly faded, otherwise handsome copy.
The attribution of this picturesque and picaresque novel on the customs of Paris under Louis XIII is long-standing, but Sorel himself disavowed the work. Brunet thinks that the novel originally had only seven parts, and that given its success, Sorel would have extended it with 5 new parts. However, the work is still currently attributed to Charles Sorel, who would himself have expurgated its obscenities by adding moral developments, for fear of censorship and lawsuits. The work forms one of the first and most important comic histories of French literature. The novel conducts several levels of narrative and is quite complex, heralding a genre that would have a strong influence on the 18th century: the episodic novel.