CONSTANT, Benjamin (1767-1830). Adolphe, anecdote trouvée dans les papiers d'un inconnu. London: H. Colburn & Paris: Treuttel and Würtz, 1816. 12° (164 x 95mm). (Lightly spotted, light watermarks in last few pages, final text leaf starting to detach.) Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards (joints split, upper hinges weak, extremities rubbed). Provenance: 1821 ownership inscription on title.
FIRST EDITION. Though generally considered to be a novel of psychological analysis, Adolphe is also related to the roman libertin or novel of seduction. Modern critics have variously seen in it 'a subtle study of the problematic relationship between language and feeling, a portrayal of the insidious power of the social group over the individual, and a projection of Constant's own complicated feelings towards women, the result of the early loss of his mother' (OCFL). Vicaire II, 931.
CONSTANT, Benjamin (1767-1830). Adolphe, anecdote trouvée dans les papiers d'un inconnu. London: H. Colburn & Paris: Treuttel and Würtz, 1816. 12° (164 x 95mm). (Lightly spotted, light watermarks in last few pages, final text leaf starting to detach.) Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards (joints split, upper hinges weak, extremities rubbed). Provenance: 1821 ownership inscription on title.
FIRST EDITION. Though generally considered to be a novel of psychological analysis, Adolphe is also related to the roman libertin or novel of seduction. Modern critics have variously seen in it 'a subtle study of the problematic relationship between language and feeling, a portrayal of the insidious power of the social group over the individual, and a projection of Constant's own complicated feelings towards women, the result of the early loss of his mother' (OCFL). Vicaire II, 931.
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