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Madame de Pompadour’s “histoire scandaleuse”. One of the few copies surviving the protective efforts of the French ambassador

[KERSTEMAN, Franciscus Lievens].
Historie van mevrouwe de hartoginne van Pompadour. [Wrapper-title: Levensbeschryving van de hartoginne van Pompadour].
Zaltbommel, Johannes Willem Kanneman, 1761. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece and title-page printed in red and black. Recased in 18th-century vellum, later endpapers, preserving the original publisher's printed wrappers. [8], 207, [1 blank] pp.
€ 1,750
First and only edition of Kersteman's extremely rare "histoire scandaleuse", describing the flagrant life of Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764), mistress of Louis XV. The book is described on the title-page and in the preface as a defence against the slanderous biographies published by the French and English. This apparently couldn't convince the French ambassador Louis Augustin d'Affry, who had, immediately after publication, destroyed the full run after buying all available copies for their full price, to defend Madame de Pompadour her good name.
With modern bookplate on pastedown. The engraved frontispiece is possibly transferred from another work and has a small restored tear in the margins. Faint dampstain in the last quire and a few spots throughout. Good untrimmed copy. The original wrappers soiled, but the vellum very good. Buisman 1029; STCN (2 copies); Ter Horst no. X; Waller 745.
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Related Subjects:

Europe  >  France, Greece & Italy
History, law & philosophy  >  History | Women Studies
Literature & linguistics  >  Dutch Literature | English, French & German Literature