LE SAGE (Alain-René). LES AVANTURES DE GIL BLAS DE SANTILLAN - Lot 93

LE SAGE (Alain-René). LES AVANTURES DE GIL BLAS DE SANTILLANE. BY MONSIEUR LE SAGE; NEW EDITION. Amsterdam, Herman Uytwerf, 1733. Four volumes in-12 (7 ff, 392 pp // 2 ff, 344 pp // 6 ff, 369 pp // 5 ff, 370 pp), glazed blond calf with grotesquely decorated smooth spines, 2 corners slightly dulled, one cuff worn (Period binding). Small tear pp. 21 of volume II, not missing. A fine copy illustrated with 32 unsigned full-page engravings, of superb workmanship and in good print. Fifth edition, Volume IV with the date of the first edition (1735). Could this be a forgery by another publisher? It is now accepted that this is not plagiarism of a Spanish work. However, the sources are Spanish: Vicente Espinel's Marcos de Obregon; various picaresque novels; political memoirs and pamphlets on the reigns of Philip III and Philip IV. "The extraordinary variety of episodes in this book, which is Spanish only in setting but remains so typically French, makes for a highly complex plot... Gil Blas thus remains one of the great documents of French realism, a vast picture of the world, imbued with an indulgent but never cynical morality. "(Laffont-Bompiani II, p. 554). Palau 136146. This edition is unknown to Cohen, Brunet and Cioranescu.