[CARACCIOLI, Louis-Antoine de]
La jouissance de soi-même
Utrecht, Chez H. Spruit/ Amsterdam, E. van Harrevelt, 1758
1 vol., 12mo, contemporary full-leather binding with unidentified arms, 444 pp.; good copy, boards rubbed, corners scuffed
Rare first edition of this 18th century classic of moralist literature and one of the most succesful works by the French polygraph Louis-Antoine de Caraccioli (1723-1803). Caraccioli was a prolific writer on a different range of subjects. A frequent topic was manners and the follies associated with them. In his time his writings were often considered as too apologetic and at odds with Enlightenment philosophy. His work however has the advantage of being multifaceted and offers contemporary readers a fairly complete panorama of the various aesthetic and ideological issues of his time. After traveling extensively through Europe he settled in Paris, where he made himself interesting in several societies by the gaiety of his conversation, nourished by an abundance of anecdotes. No copy in BNF or worldcat.
