[COURTESAN].
Les confessions d’une courtisane devenue philosophe.
Londres et Bruxelles, Le Francq, 1784.
12mo, pp. [viii], 132; aside from very occasional light spotting, clean and crisp throughout; uncut in contemporary orange wrappers, handwritten paper label at head of spine; some light wear, but still a lovely copy.
First edition (another appeared in the same year with a “Londres et se trouve à Paris” imprint) of this anonymous novel describing the ascent (or perhaps descent) of a courtesan into the world of the philosophe; naturally, she is of good family but is driven to be a courtesan by love, before reflections on morals and manners, and a love of truth and candour, lead her back to a more sedate and contemplative life. Some of our heroine’s contemplations are articulated in the second part, where she reflects on female ornament, friendship, the seductive qualities of science and the arts, natural law, the crime of adultery, and the state in which illegitimate children find themselves. Despite her doubtless busy schedule, our narrator has found the time to read Montesquieu and Puffendorf.
Gay I 659.
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Authentick Coppie of the Tryal of Scot and Mackpherson Anno 1712. Laid before the House, pursuant to their Lordships’ Order for that Purpose, 18 Aprilis, 1737.
First edition of this London trial of Scottish cattle-rustlers. Donald McPherson, a merchant drover, was driving black cattle from the North of Scotland into England, when he was attacked near the river Tweed by William Laidly, or ‘Scot’, his brother Walter and their gang. McPherson was dragged backwards from his horse by his hair and severely beaten with horse-whips, and his servant’s finger was nearly severed with a shearing hook. The Laidlys proceeded to drive the cattle over rough terrain, laming a number of them.
The prosecutor was James Erskine, Lord Grange. The trial stated that several of the witnesses were unable to speak English, so one of the jurors is asked to translate. His fellow jurors include a watchmaker, a musician and William Paterson, a bookbinder.
MANUSCRIPT POCKETBOOK OF POETRY SCHULENBURG, Graf von der (compiler).
‘Poesies Francoises sur diverses sujets composée par plusieurs celebres auteurs et recuelly par D.C.G. C de Schoulenbourg à Förste l’ann 1742’.
A charming manuscript compendium of French poetry in an attractive binding and slipcase, compiled at Förste in South Lower Saxony by a member of the distinguished von der Schulenburg family. The selection of love poems, spiritual and satirical verse, epitaphs, and songs (including one poem titled ‘Sur un livre donné à sa majesté Brittannique intitule Il gyro del mondo’) is drawn from seventeenth-century writers including Boileau, Fénelon, Le Pays, Pavillon, Racine, and Scarron.