French first edition, following the English first edition of 1763.
Copy with the arms of Anne-louis-Alexandre de Montmorency, (D'or à la croix de gueules cantonnée de seize alérions d'azur ordonnés 4 et 4) lieutenant-general of the king's armies, captain of the king's guards.
Contemporary full speckled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 5 alérions of the Montmorency family. Arms stamped on covers. Red morocco title label. Rubbing. Spine browned. 2 corners slightly bumped. Browning to margins of half-title and title page, small worming in margins. Handsome copy.
Lady Montagu was the wife of the English ambassador to Constantinople. The principal interest of these letters lies in bearing direct witness to the customs of contemporary Turkey. The accounts contained in the correspondence are fascinating; they are undoubtedly the only feminine testimony about Turkey of that time and about the countries she crossed to reach it, notably Greece and Hungary. She addresses Turkish customs but also life in harems, which she was the first European woman to enter and visit, as well as Moorish baths. Her corset was then so tightly laced that the oriental bathers were convinced it was a sort of torture instrument in which her husband had locked her. Lady Montagu not only envied the nudity of these women, a symbol of emancipation and luxury, but was also seduced by the apparent freedom of certain aspects of their lives. She also seems to have been seduced by love and amorous poetry, and she quotes verses from the sultan to his beloved. The success of these letters was such that the author was nicknamed "the Sévigné of England." Voltaire wrote a relatively favorable review of this work in the literary gazette of 1764, praising the author's erudition and culture: "There reigns above all in Lady Montagu's work a spirit of philosophy and liberty that characterizes her nation."
