LE BLANC (Abbé Jean-Bernard): Lettres concernant... - Lot 225 - Richard Maison de ventes

Lot 225
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Estimation :
130 - 250 EUR
LE BLANC (Abbé Jean-Bernard): Lettres concernant... - Lot 225 - Richard Maison de ventes
LE BLANC (Abbé Jean-Bernard): Lettres concernant le gouvernement, la politique et les moeurs des Anglois et des François. Amsterdam, Aux Dépens de la Compagnie, 1749, 3 volumes in 1 volume. 10 by 17 cm. (8)-230-(2) ; 248-(2) ; 264 pages. Contemporary full calf, 5-rib spine, ornate caissons, havana title page, top cover gilt-lettered with the name of the first owner: Mr de Vaublanc. A small leather loss on the 1st plate, and two small stains, not serious, a bump to a corner. Despite this, a good copy. Very good condition inside (barely visible wetness in the margin of the 1st quarter of volume 1). 2nd edition (E.O.: 1745). Rare. A native of Dijon, a worldly abbé, a protégé of Madame de Pompadour and her brother the Marquis de Marigny, whom he accompanied to Italy, Jean-Bernard Leblanc was historiographer of the King's buildings, an art critic, an enlightened amateur but a poor poet. A childhood friend of Buffon, correspondent of Montesquieu, Helvétius, Abbé Dubos, Fréret and Crébillon fils, Abbé Leblanc spent two years in England in 1737 and 1738 with the Duke of Kingston, at Thoresby Castle in the province of Nottingham. He brought back his Lettres sur les Anglais (Letters on the English), which earned him a reputation of sorts and helped develop Anglomania in France. According to Van Tieghem, in Dict. des littératures p. 2300, the Lettres de l'abbé Leblanc "had a great success and contributed greatly to the revelation of English literature and mores". The Goncourt brothers devoted a chapter of their "Portraits intimes du XVIIIe siècle" to this curious abbé, pages 57 to 70.
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