Recherches Historiques Et Critiques Sur…Les Mimes Et Les Pantomimes.
Paris, J. Mérigot 1751.
12mo (156 x 90 mm.). [iv], vi, 176, [1]p. Woodcut title ornament.
Contemporary gilt-ruled green morocco with blooms in the corners, gilt flat spine and red morocco label, all edges gilt over marbling; gold and white checkerboard brocade paper endleaves with daisies, lilies, dots and stars (partial signature of Augsburg papermaker G.C. Stoy), two red silk markers.
With: Fagan, Barthélemy-Christophe. 1702-1755.
Nouvelles Observations, Au Sujet Des Condamnations Prononcées Contre Les Comediens. Paris, H.-D. Chaubert 1751. 8vo. 59, [4]p.
Ad I: First Edition, first issue: on the history and practice of ancient pantomime. The popular genre combined gesture, music and dance to express both comedy and tragedy. Much of the text treats the famous rival performers Bathyllus and Pylades, who introduced erotically charged and gender-bending danced mime to Rome. Their acts inspired later art forms from Commedia dell’Arte to drag. Boulenger explicitly links it to the fashionable ballet d’action and draws on ancient literary and epigraphic evidence as well as contemporary scholarship, including the observations of the classicist Madame Dacier. A very good copy (occasional light foxing).
¶Soleinne, Bibliothèque dramatique V: 69; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes IV: 2; Cioranescu 13456.
Ad II: First Edition. The comic playwright defends his genre from its detractors and argues for its moral role in society. He emphasizes that thespians’ dissipated behavior is not caused by the theater itself (he blames the ancient Greeks), and he discusses the dangers of censorship at length, particularly as it relates to Molière’s Don Juan (Fagan was distantly related to Molière). Ironically, Fagan died a destitute alcoholic.
¶Soleinne V: 27; Currier & Gay, Catalogue of the Molière Collection in Harvard College Library 66; Cioranescu 28077.
Price: $4,800.00