Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1713-1778). Le Devin du Village. Amst - Lot 197

Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1713-1778). Le Devin du Village. Amsterdam, Chez Marc Michel Rey, 1773, quarto, full paper boards; title, dedication / warning and notice, 95 pp (pp. 67-76 in duplicate) Very rare "new edition" of this famous interlude composed by the philosopher, "performed in Fontainebleau before their Majesties on October 18th and 24th 1752 and in Paris by the Royal Academy of Music on March 1st 1753", "engraved by B. Andrez in Liège". Publisher Marc Michel Rey also insisted on engraving, after Jean-Jacques' Avertissement, this "Avis": "Voulant me rendre Possesseur de tous les Ouvrages de Monsieur Rousseau, j'ai fait graver cette Edition sur un Exemplaire qu'il m'a fait l'amitié de corriger de sa main. I have given all my care to the execution and I leave it to the public to judge whether I have fulfilled my purpose. Amsterdam, April 1, 1773. The very fine quality of the paper used for this edition certainly bears witness to this commitment. Vintage and laid-in boards, handwritten labels on spine, partly unbound. Also included: Jean-Baptiste Jesi, known as PERGOLESE (1710-1736). La Servante Maîtresse. Comedy in two acts Mêlée d'Ariettes, parodiées de la Serva Padrona, Italian interlude. First performed by the Comédiens Italiens Ordinaires du Roi, on Wednesday 14 August 1754. Et à la Cour devant leurs Majestés le 4 Décembre de la même année (Paris, Mr. de la Chevardière, 1754); large in quarto, green half-basin (c. 1820), title (publisher's catalog verso), 77 pp. First edition [Fétis VI p.488]. La Serva Padrona was written for the San Bartolomeo theater in Naples at the end of 1731; Pergolesi was 21 at the time, and this little opera buffa based on the Commedia dell'Arte was the only success of his short life. The text is a translation into French verse by Baurans, playwright and musician (1710-1764), and Madame Favart. It was a huge success throughout Europe, with 150 consecutive performances in Paris [Sonneck p.127].