SADE (Donatien-Alphonse). Justine, ou les Malheurs de la ver - Lot 19

SADE (Donatien-Alphonse). Justine, ou les Malheurs de la vertu. En Hollande, chez les libraires associés, [i.e. Paris, JacquesGirouard], 1791. 2 volumes in one in-8, 283-(uneblanche)-(4dont les 2aux versos blanches)-191-(uneblanche)pp., marbled brown basane, ornate cloisonné smooth spine with red title page, ornate edges; discreet restorations to the spines, headpieces and corners, scattered freckles and stains, one leaf with restored angular lack (slightly later binding). First edition, dedicated by the Marquis de Sade to his companion, the actress Constance Quesnet. Without the "Avis de l'éditeur" and "Explication du frontispice" leaves, which appear only in very rare copies. Famous copper-engraved frontispiece by Antoine Carrée after the painter Philippe Chéry, a pupil of David, depicting virtue between Lust and Irreligion, with the quotation of 2 verses from the tragedy Œdipe chez Admète by Jean-François Ducis: "Qui sait, lorsque le Ciel nous frappe de ses coups,/ Si le plus grand malheur n'est pas un bien pour nous?" (Who knows, when Heaven strikes us with its blows,/ If the greatest misfortune is not good for us?). The first book published by the Marquis de Sade, Justine is the second, much revised version of a tale, LesInfortunes de la Vertu, which he had written in 1787 while imprisoned in the Bastille. In this picture, which pushes the notion of Providence to its furthest limits, his aim was to lead to a love of virtue through an inverted demonstration in which vice takes the upper hand. In his long, programmatic dedication, the Marquis de Sade states: "The purpose of this novel (not as novel as one might think) is undoubtedly new [...]. To offer everywhere Vice triumphant and Virtue the victim of its sacrifices, to show an unfortunate woman wandering from misfortune to misfortune, the plaything of scoundrels; the breastplate of all debaucheries; prey to the most barbaric and monstrous tastes [......]; to hazard, in a word, the boldest paintings, the most extraordinary situations, the most frightening maxims, the most energetic brushstrokes, with the sole aim of obtaining from all this one of the most sublime lessons in morality that man has yet received; it was, one will agree, reaching the goal by a road little trodden until now." The work met with great success, and several editions were published up to 1800, spiced up with free engravings.