![[MILLOT, Michel and Jean de L’ANGE, eds.] L’Escole des Filles ou la Philosophie des dames divisee en deux dialogues. Villefranche Holland]: sous la Presse des Paillards, 1686.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_10773_0132_000(millot_michel_and_jean_de_lange_eds_lescole_des_filles_ou_la_philosoph125444).jpg?w=1)
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[MILLOT, Michel and Jean de L’ANGE, eds.] L’Escole des Filles ou la Philosophie des dames divisee en deux dialogues. Villefranche Holland]: sous la Presse des Paillards, 1686.
Duodecimo (132 x 77 mm). (Neglible spotting and marginal tears.) Red morocco gilt by Hardy, gilt edges. Provenance: early text corrections -- Charles Hayoit (1901-84; booklabel, sold, Sotheby’s Paris, 28 June 2001, lot 63).
ONE OF ONLY TWO 17TH-CENTURY COPIES KNOWN IN PRIVATE HANDS OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED THE EARLIEST FRENCH EROTIC MANUAL. It adopts the familiar structure of a dialogue between a young virgin and an older, experienced woman, initiating her in the art and pleasure of love. Its descriptions are considerably more explicit than its predecessors Aretino and Niccolo Franco, so much so that Samuel Pepys couldn’t resist buying a copy of this 'most bawdy lewd book', reading it through in private, and then burning it (Diary, 8-9 February 1668). Complementing its explicit eroticism is a more philosophical discourse on erotic love, and overall it may be seen as a principal text in the revolution of sexual information (cf. Dens, 'L’Escole des Filles: premier roman libertin du XVIIe siècles', Société d’études pluridisciplinaires…, 1991). On publication, in 1655, L’Ange was arrested, Millot fled, copies were seized, and they and Millot in effigy were burned; no copy of the first edition survives. The work was printed numerous times in The Netherlands under false imprints, and all 17th-century editions (1659, 1667, 1668, 1671, 1677 and possibly 1676 [a ghost?]) are very rare, surviving in only a handful of copies. Only a copy of the 1676 edition (Nordmann, Christie’s Paris, 15 Dec. 2006, lot 185) is also in private hands. Cf. Barbier II, 18; Brunet II, 939; Dutel A-353; Foxon 1964; Martin & Lecocq M-178; Weller, Die falschen und fingierten Druckorte [France], p. 21.
Duodecimo (132 x 77 mm). (Neglible spotting and marginal tears.) Red morocco gilt by Hardy, gilt edges. Provenance: early text corrections -- Charles Hayoit (1901-84; booklabel, sold, Sotheby’s Paris, 28 June 2001, lot 63).
ONE OF ONLY TWO 17TH-CENTURY COPIES KNOWN IN PRIVATE HANDS OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED THE EARLIEST FRENCH EROTIC MANUAL. It adopts the familiar structure of a dialogue between a young virgin and an older, experienced woman, initiating her in the art and pleasure of love. Its descriptions are considerably more explicit than its predecessors Aretino and Niccolo Franco, so much so that Samuel Pepys couldn’t resist buying a copy of this 'most bawdy lewd book', reading it through in private, and then burning it (Diary, 8-9 February 1668). Complementing its explicit eroticism is a more philosophical discourse on erotic love, and overall it may be seen as a principal text in the revolution of sexual information (cf. Dens, 'L’Escole des Filles: premier roman libertin du XVIIe siècles', Société d’études pluridisciplinaires…, 1991). On publication, in 1655, L’Ange was arrested, Millot fled, copies were seized, and they and Millot in effigy were burned; no copy of the first edition survives. The work was printed numerous times in The Netherlands under false imprints, and all 17th-century editions (1659, 1667, 1668, 1671, 1677 and possibly 1676 [a ghost?]) are very rare, surviving in only a handful of copies. Only a copy of the 1676 edition (Nordmann, Christie’s Paris, 15 Dec. 2006, lot 185) is also in private hands. Cf. Barbier II, 18; Brunet II, 939; Dutel A-353; Foxon 1964; Martin & Lecocq M-178; Weller, Die falschen und fingierten Druckorte [France], p. 21.
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