A Virtually Never Used Set of the First English Edition of a Sensational 18th Century Forgery

LETTERS OF THE MARCHIONESS OF POMPADOUR: FROM MDCCLIII TO MDCCLXII INCLUSIVE. [with] LETTERS OF THE MARCHIONESS OF POMPADOUR: FROM MDCCXLVI TO MDCCLII INCLUSIVE.

(FORGERIES - FRENCH HISTORY, 18TH CENTURY). (POMPADOUR, [JEANNE ANTOINETTE POISSON] MARQUISE DE). [BARBÉ-MARBOIS, FRANÇOIS].

(London: T. Cadell, 1771, 1772). 160 x 98 mm. (6 1/4 x 3 3/4"). Two works in three volumes. First Edition in English.

Plain but excellent contemporary sprinkled calf, raised bands flanked by gilt rules, red morocco title labels, gilt volume numbers, with re-numbering added in the panel beneath by a previous early owner. ESTC T146522, T147368. Spines slightly darkened, a touch of wear to extremities, perimeter offsetting to flyleaves and adjacent pages from binder's glue, but AN ESPECIALLY PLEASING SET--the contents clean, fresh, and bright, the bindings virtually unworn.

Little changed from the day they left the bindery, these volumes contain an intriguing hoax from an improbable source: the French diplomat François, Marquis de Barbé-Marbois, who negotiated the 1803 treaty by which the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15,000,000. In these letters, Barbé-Marbois (1745-1837) pretends to be the remarkable Madame de Pompadour (1721-64), a commoner born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson who became not just the official mistress of Louis XV, but the king's closest and most trusted advisor on matters of state. Through the letters, Barbé-Marbois attempts to get inside the mind of arguably the most important French (perhaps even European) woman of her time to untangle the origins and degree of her influence over political and military affairs. It may seem odd to a modern sensibility that Barbé-Marbois--a man whose talent for diplomacy enabled him to serve two kings, a republic, and an emperor of France--would produce this fabricated correspondence. Still in his mid-20s, he could have done so to establish a reputation for himself at a time many years before he would earn it as a diplomat; or he could have been responding to some personal or unrecorded public interest in Pompadour; or he may have done it, at least in part, for monetary gain; or he could have done it simply as an entertaining diversion to fill up idle hours. All we know is that, although the "Letters" proved to be sensational and widely popular, nobody read the present set, which seem to have spent most of their existence safely on the shelf. (ST21068)

Price: $1,950.00