RACINE (Jean). LaThebayde ou les Freres ennemis. Tragedie. A - Lot 66

RACINE (Jean). LaThebayde ou les Freres ennemis. Tragedie. AParis, chez Thomas Jolly, 1664. Small in-12, (8, of which the second blank)-70pp. without the last leaf bearing the extract of the privilege, brown shagreened basane, ornate cloisonné spine with garnet title-piece, marbled edges; binding a little rubbed and stained with worn corners and a dented start of the spine, volume trimmed short (binding circa 1820). First edition published by three partners to the privilege, Claude Barbin, Gabriel Quinet and Thomas Jolly. One of the rare copies bearing the name of the latter, which could not be found at Albert-Jean Guibert, and of which Alain Riffaud has found three copies in libraries in Copenhagen, Hamburg and Yale. The complete text, of which around a hundred verses would be deleted in later editions. Racine's first tragedy, premiered on June 20, 1664 by Molière's troupe at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, it depicts the fratricidal struggle of Eteocles and Polynices for the throne of Thebes, culminating in a no less violent confrontation between their sister Antigone and their uncle Creon.