Item #110522 Ninon de Lenclos. Victoria - her copy Sackville-West, Ninon de Lenclos, Antoine Bret.

Ninon de Lenclos.

1904. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1904.

8vo (214 x 154 mm), (iv), 310 pp. Contemporary morocco in Arts and Crafts style with gilt rules, oak leaves and dots, gilt title on upper cover and backstrip, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt, extremities lightly rubbed, backstrip slightly sunned, hint of moisture here and there in the lower margins, otherwise an excellent copy, bright, clean with and wide margins. Bookplate of Victoria Sackville-West to front pastedown, front flyleaf inscribed, “Mrs. Sackville-West - with best wishes from - Bob Capel - Xmas 1904”. With photographic portrait of Ninon de Lenclos tipped onto verso of half title.

§ The story of Ninon de Lenclos (1620-1705), one of the most famous libertines in the French aristocracy of the 17th century, and hostess to a salon frequented by Boileau, La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière. This volume contains biographical accounts, as well as letters to, from, and relating to Lenclos. The work was first published in 1751 as Memoirs sur la vie de Madame de Lenclos”, attributed to Antoine Bret. This copy belonged to Victoria Sackville-West, the mother of the author and gardener Vita Sackville-West. Item #110522

Price: $450.00