Item #153 Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756. Adélaïde de Varansal, attributed to Riccoboni circle.
Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756
Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756
Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756
Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756

Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd à Milord Charles Alfred de Caitombridge, Comte de Plisinte, Duc de Rafingth. Écrites en 1735, Traduites de l’Anglois en 1756

Publisher: Paris: Société des Libraires, 1757.

Edition: Early edition (second French edition, 1757)

Binding: Contemporary original paper wrappers, manuscript title to spine, edges untrimmed, fragile with wear at spine and corners; unrestored.

Description: Rare early Paris edition of the scandalous epistolary novel Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd, presented as the private correspondence of a young Englishwoman, Fanny Butler, and her noble lover, Lord Charles Alfred of “Caitombridge.” First published in English in 1735 and quickly translated, the work belongs to the same sentimental-literary current that made Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa bestsellers, as well as the works of Marie Jeanne Riccoboni.

This 1757 Société des Libraires issue (the second French printing) retains the dramatic red-and-black title page, here with early ownership inscription. The translation is attributed to Adélaïde de Varansal, one of the few women translators active in mid-18th century Paris.

The novel’s blend of illicit romance, moral anguish, and social satire typifies the pre-Revolutionary taste for passionate, confessional fiction. Surviving in its original paper wrappers—with manuscript spine title, a rare state for ephemeral Parisian fiction—this copy has remained remarkably untouched, the text block crisp, margins wide, and only minor foxing.

A scarce and collectible example of 18th-century sentimental fiction, and a desirable companion to Riccoboni, Graffigny, and Rousseau’s epistolary tradition.

Condition: Good. Original wrappers worn at spine ends, some splitting, but text block solid, pages crisp, red-and-black title page bright. Ownership inscription on title. Untrimmed edges.

Annotation: A scarce 1757 Paris edition of Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd, in original wrappers, with red-and-black title. An important epistolary fiction bridging Richardson’s English sentimentalism and the French pre-Revolutionary taste for clandestine, emotional novels.

Item #153

Price: $300.00

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