A French playwright's commonplace book

Laus de Boissy, Louis de, French playwright (1743-1799). Recueil de pieces choisies.

€ 3.500,00

A compilation manuscript of poetic and historical rarities from the library of the eighteenth-century man of letters Louis de Laus de Boissy, a correspondent of Voltaire whose work spanned the pre- and post-revolutionary periods. Many of these pieces are difficult to locate and may be unpublished, making this an individual collection of sources for the political history and literary culture of seventeenth-century France.

This volume bears the bookplate of "M. De Laus de Boissy, Ecuyer, Lieutenant-particulier du Siège de la Connétablie, Rapportuer du Point-d'Honneur; Membre des Académies de Rome, Padoue, &c. &c.". Laus de Boissy was appointed to the Royal Constabulary (Connétablie) in 1766, and the royalist association of the title would have made him unlikely to use it after the beginning of the Revolution, which provides us with a temporal framework for this volume. Written in a fine eighteenth-century hand, it was examined and annotated by a reader in the nineteenth century, who added cross-references to printed editions and other related works to some pieces.

The selections are wide-ranging, from drama to poetry to accounts of travels, military campaigns and the political history of France in the seventeenth century. A particular interest is shown in Burgundy, as evidenced by "Lou veritable Vey de Gôdô", a seventeenth-century poem in Burgundian dialect, and an account of a journey to Besançon in 1699 by Soyrot, comptroller-general of finances of Burgundy, written in a mix of prose and verse.

A considerable number of pieces, grouped at the end of the work, relate to the execution of Henri, Duc de Montmorency in Toulouse in 1632. A member of one of France's most powerful households and a successful military commander, Montmorency attracted the jealosy of Cardinal Richelieu, against whom he later led a failed rebellion which led to his execution.

Louis de Laus de Boissy was known as a dramatist and author of barbed verses who produced several plays and a history of French literature. He often wrote under the pseudonyms "Mademoiselle M. de Morville" and "un homme de mauvaise humeur". Following the Revolution, he was made a judge in the Seine départment.

An individual collection of rarities reflective of the wide-ranging interests of a prolific man of letters.