La fausse Clelie, histoire françoise, galante et comique

New edition and first Parisian after two Dutch editions, the original being from 1670. One frontispiece and 5 very fine unsigned figures. Title page in red and black.
Contemporary brown speckled glazed full calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Beige morocco title label. Loose headcap. Lower joint partially split and open. Lack to upper joint at tail.
Sentimental novel set at Vaux-le-Vicomte whose plot is quite extraordinary to say the least. The Marquis de Ribeville falls in love with a melancholic and silent young girl. He saves her from a certain peril. She tells her story believing herself to be Clélie, the heroine of Scudery's eponymous novel. She would therefore be the daughter of Clélius, in retreat in Carthage to avoid the vengeance of the last of the Tarquins. The name then given to this type of patient was that of visionary. The novel contains multiple secondary love stories, thus embracing the preoccupations of the courtiers residing at Vaux and Fontainebleau.