La Surprise de l'amour, comédie en trois actes et en prose

First edition.

Full red morocco binding, round spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons, slight rubbing on the caps, double frame of blind-stamped gilt fillets on the covers, with fleurons at the corners of the inner frame, edges slightly blunt, marbled paper endpapers and back covers, gilt edges and heads, very elegant 19th-century binding ‘a la Du Seuil’ signed Quinet on the first endpaper. 

Rare first edition of Chamblain de Marivaux's first theatrical success, The Surprise of Love, published four years before The Second Surprise of Love. This play, performed in the spring of 1722 before being published the following year in 1723, already contains all the essence of Marivaux's style, all its subtle gallantry. According to the Romantic poet Theophile Gautier, it is the author's masterpiece. 

When the playwright submitted his work to the "Italian Comedians of His Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans", who had enjoyed the protection of the regent since 1716, the troupe leader of the "new Italian Theatre", the renowned actor "Ricoboni dit Lelio", was in the process of moving away from farcical theatre in favour of more accomplished plays. Nineteen performances of Marivaux's works will be played by the Italian actors, whose acting style was considered more natural than codified. 

One actress in particular, Giovanna-Rosa Benozzi, known as Silvia, excelled in this art. She was preferred by her contemporaries "to the brunette Quinault, the blonde Balicourt, the beautiful Clairon, and the young Gaussin, all of them Comédie-Française" actresses. Her first encounter with Marivaux, which turned out to be rather eccentric, took place after the premiere of The Surprise of Love, and was reported by biographer Gaston Deschamps. The playwright went anonymously backstage to congratulate the great actress. Faced with her unknown admirer, Silvia complained that she "did not fully grasp the subtlety of her role". Marivaux recited a few lines from his play, to which the actress replied with great admiration: "You are either the devil or the author".

According to the Marquis d'Argenson, Marivaux's comedies "could almost all be called 'The Surprise of Love'". This slightly ironic assessment nevertheless confirms Theophile Gautier's judgement. Indeed, this sixth play by Marivaux is the true matrix of his future work and of the famous marivaudage, which would culminate in 1730 with The Game of Love and Chance.

A very rare copy in a beautiful ‘a la Du Seuil’ binding, signed by a 19th-century master bookbinder.