ROUSSEAU (Jean-Jacques). Le Devin du Village. Amsterdam, Che - Lot 30

ROUSSEAU (Jean-Jacques). Le Devin du Village. Amsterdam, Chez Marc Michel Rey, 1773. In-4°, hardback. 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 18 and 24, 1752 and in Paris by the Royal Academy of Music on March 1, 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. Period and antique boards, handwritten labels on spine, partly unbound. ENCLOSED: PERGOLÈSE. La Servante Maîtresse. Comédie en deux actes Mêlée d'Ariettes, parodiées de la Serva Padrona, interlède italien. Paris, Mr. de La Chevardière, 1754. Large in-4°, green half-basane (circa 1820 binding). Title (publisher's catalog on v°) and 77 pp. "Represented for the first time by the Comédiens Italiens Ordinaires du Roi, on Wednesday 14 Aoust 1754. Et à la Cour devant leurs Majestés le 4 Décembre de la même année". 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 opéra-bouffe 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].