Rare luxury issue of the most accomplished Parisian edition, beautifully bound by the Parisian bookbinding atelier Lambert, with the original wrappers included. The luxury issue, printed on Holland paper, was limited to a 100 numbered copies (of which this is number 26), and is further distinguished by its wide margins, and exceptional and unique illustrations. It has been enriched with 145 full-page copper engravings, comprising plates after Jules-Adolphe Chauvet (1828-1898), engraved in 1875 by Henry Barraud (1811-1874), together with plates after Jules Nisle, engraved by Adolph Gnauth (1840-1884). Some of these engravings, long admired and occasionally criticised for their frankness, were conceived not merely to titillate, but to document with remarkable care the costumes, interiors, furnishings, and social rituals of mid-18th-century Europe.
Giacomo Casanova's (1725-1798) Mémoires remain one of the great autobiographical monuments of European literature. Beyond the famous amorous adventures, the work offers vivid accounts of travel, intellectual life, imprisonment, gambling, music, diplomacy, and survival at the courts and salons of the Enlightenment. Written with candour, wit, and astonishing narrative energy, Casanova reveals both his triumphs and his failings, producing not only a personal confession but an unparalleled cultural record of 18th-century Europe.
The present edition is the first Garnier frères edition of Casanova's Mémoires, following the establishment of the complete French text earlier in the century. While not a first edition in the strict bibliographical sense, it is widely regarded as the most accomplished Parisian edition of the work. It follows the Jean Laforgue (1782-1852) text, derived from Casanovas original manuscripts acquired by Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus (1772-1823) in 1821, with a small number of additions traceable to the Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Paulin (1796-1859) continuation of 1837. Garniers aim, explicitly stated in the preliminary notice, was to unite accuracy, completeness, and elegance in a single edition, correcting the shortcomings of earlier editions, including the Leipzig twelve-volume edition, which lacked an index.
The present Garnier edition includes extensive appendices, among them extracts from the writings of the Prince de Ligne (1735-1814) on Casanova, 21 letters from Casanova to Faulkircher (Johann Ferdinand Opiz, 1741-1812), passages from Histoire de ma fuite, and extracts from the memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838). Garnier himself claimed that this edition united "all the conditions which should make it superior to those preceding".
With the stamp of the bookbinder on the verso of the first free flyleaf of every volume, the work has been bound with the original wrappers, with the original spine included separately in the back. The spine of the first three volumes is slightly rubbed, the front of the first volume is broken. The fore edge and foot edge are uncut, minor foxing to the margins of some of the leaves and plates, attributable to the paper quality used for these engravings. Otherwise in very good condition. Gay-Lemonnyer vol III, 121; Rives Child no. 45, pp. 147-148.