[RÉTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)]. Adèle de Comm.., or L - Lot 14

[RÉTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme)]. Adèle de Comm.., or Letters from a daughter to her father. EnFrance, s.n., 1772. Vol.I includes a faux-title: Lettres d'une fille à son père. Se trouve à Paris, chés Edme [Rapenot], 1772. Vol.V has intermediate titles with addresses: En France, 1772, se trouve à Paris, chez Humblot. -5volumes in-12, tobacco half-calf with corners, ribbed spines decorated with grotesque motifs, double cold fillet in leather edging on the boards, marbled edges; several leaves trimmed shorter, including the general title leaves and the intermediate title leaf out of pagination of vol.IV, and the intermediate title leaves included in the pagination of vol.V; bindings a little rubbed (binding of the second half of the nineteenth century). I: xiv-346pp. - II: 356pp. - III: 384pp. -IV: +60-(2, one intermediate title and one blank)-400[numbers 61-311, 326-365, 368-384]pp. -V: viii-78-58-52-24-56pp. First edition of this epistolary novel in which the daughter of the Prince of Comminges writes to her father, who went to war in 1757, and with which Rétif, pursuing moral and pedagogical aims, hoped to rival Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. This is a complete copy of the extremely rare vol.V, of which only 250 copies were printed at the author's expense - the first 4 volumes having been printed in an edition of 1250 copies (James R.Childs, n°IX). Part 4 includes "Pièces détachées" lettered A to F, but Rétif had intended to include 4 other texts lettered G to J, and had warned the reader of this: in the notes on pp.47 and 48 of vol.III he announces two plays (lettered G and H); in the note on p.184 of vol.IV, he announces a "proverb" or "tale" (lettré I); and in the note on p.379 of vol.IV, he announces an interview on the defense of booksellers and the relationship between commerce and literature (lettré J). However, in a note on p.62 of vol.IV, Rétif warns this time: "On imprime séparément, sous le titre de Pièces singulières curieuses relatives aux lettres d'une fille à son père, les morceaux annoncés qui n'ont pu trouver place dans cette IVepartie". He therefore collected these 4 texts, plus a fifth, in a vol.V: the 2 plays (LaCigale et la fourmi, and LeJugement de Pâris); Réflexions sur l'Ambigu-Comique, an unannounced and unlettered text placed as an appendix to the Jugement de Pâris; a "conte ou proverbe" entitled Ilrecule pour mieux sauter; and Contr'avis aux gens de lettres. There are, however, two types of copy of vol.V, recognizable by differences in pagination. James R. Childs considers the first type to be part of the edition, and the second to have been intended for separate sale. However, the present copy, which belongs to the second type, includes the preface, which James R. Childs considers to belong to the first type: the separation between these two types is therefore undoubtedly artificial. Rétif specifies in Mes Ouvrages that he had to cardboard-box vol.V because of the censorship imposed by Inspector Joseph d'Hémery, in charge of the Paris book police, and remove Ilrecule pour mieux sauter, but this is not the case here, where this historiette appears. It should be noted that 3 of the texts in Vol. V appeared separately, and were distributed before being published as a collection. Provenance: Jean-Jacques de Tournes (ex-libris armorial vignettes with handwritten note). Reproduction opposite