RACINE (Jean).

♦ Esther. Tragedy taken from the Holy Scripture. Paris, Denys Thierry, 1689. - Athalie. Tragedy taken from the Holy Scripture. Paris, Denys Thierry, 1691. Together 2 works in one volume in-4, red morocco, jansenist, inner lace, gilt edges on marble (Trautz-Bauzonnet). Original editions in-4 of the last two plays of Racine written at the request of Madame de Maintenon for the demoiselles de Saint-Cyr, plays with biblical subjects being part of an educational program. Let us recall here the reaction of Madame de Sévigné who had attended a representation of Esther at Saint-Cyr: I cannot tell you the excess of pleasure of this play. Evoking the music of J.-B. Moreau, she continues: All the songs suitable to the words which are drawn from the Psalms or Wisdom and put in the subject are of a beauty which one does not support without tears. Each one is adorned with a copperplate engraved frontispiece: that of Esther engraved by Sébastien Le Clerc after Le Brun, and that of Athalie engraved by Jean Mariette after Jean-Baptiste Corneille. A copy of Ernest Quentin Bauchart (1830-1909), with his bookplate, bibliographer and bibliophile known in particular for his work Les Femmes bibliophiles de France (1886).