Oeuvres de Madame et de Mademoiselle Deshoulieres. Nouvelle Edition. A Paris Chez Durand, 1747. First Edition, volume 1 of 2.

Contemporary full leather in very good condition. Beautiful marbled end-papers both from and back, original ribbon bookmark, gilt tooling on spine. Bumped corners and splitting between spine and boards (see photos) however, still solid with no danger of separation as long as handled with care. Text block is very clean for 276 year old book.*

Portrait frontispiece, pictorial engraved headpieces at the beginning of poems. This edition is the first to contain pieces not published during the authors life-times. According to the preface, the thirty-five poems marked with are from the papers of the Deshoulieres. Deshoulieres died in 1743. Voltaire thought Mme. Deshoulieres was the best woman French poet. However, she is at least as remarklable as a philosopher. Mme. Deshouliere’s early work reflects and expresses her philosophical views, which are based on Lucretius and Gassendi. She was an early modern naturalist, but expressed her theories in poetry, as did Parmenides and Lucretius. Bayle discusses her skepticism about religion and morals (Conley, 2002).

*vintage items may show signs of wear consistent with age and use, this is to be expected and embraced. Please see photos and ask any questions prior to bidding. Thank you and good luck!