L'Amitié dangereuse, ou Célimaure et Amélie, histoire vérita - Lot 1

L'Amitié dangereuse, ou Célimaure et Amélie, histoire véritable. ÀParis, chez Buisson, 1786. 3tomes in one volume in-12, 156-152-(4including those with white versos)-139-(onewhite)pp., garnet morocco, ribbed spine filleted in black, red morocco lining framed in filleted garnet morocco, red silk endpapers brocaded with gilt geometric motifs, marbled double endpapers, gilt edges; stain on upper cover, restored marginal splits on first and last leaves, several leaves with shorter margins, including the title of volumeIII (Marius Michel). Rare edition of a rare work. Two editions were printed in France at the same date: this one, in 3 volumes, bears on the title the address "à Paris, chez Buisson" as well as the words "Par l'auteur des Liaisons dangereuses", and includes an unsigned dedicatory epistle to the Marquise de M***. The other edition, in 2 volumes, bears the address "ÀLaHaye, et se trouve à Paris, chez Buisson", has no attribution on the title, and sees its dedicatory epistle to the Marquise de M*** signed "le Baron de***". Comparison of the addresses would suggest that the 3-volume edition is the original, but François Buisson's 1786 catalog of new releases, printed in early 1787, lists only the 2-volume edition of L'Amitié dangereuse. The work, unknown to Barbier and Quérard, was known to Jules Gay only through Wilhelm Fleischer's 1812 bibliography, which mentions the 2-volume edition; the BnF possesses only the 2-volume edition, and Pierre Conlon mentions only the latter. One of the avatars of Les Liaisons dangereuses. The immense success of Choderlos de Laclos' novel gave rise to a series of literary productions in the same vein. Here, although the epistolary form has been abandoned, the narrative is directly inspired by this best-selling book: a virtuous couple, Célimaure and Amélie, find themselves at the mercy of the destructive stratagems of a libertine couple, Zélonide and Polémon, with whom they have befriended during a bad encounter.