88 - DORAT, Claude-Joseph. The Sacrifices of Love, or Letters from the Viscountess of Senanges...

DORAT, Claude-Joseph. The Sacrifices of Love, or Letters from the Viscountess of Senanges... Amsterdam, and available in Paris, published by Delalain, 1772. In-8 (18 x 12 cm), mottled calfskin, smooth spine with decoration. Gilded edges. Period binding. 2 vols.: xiii-300 pp. - 276 pp. Normal wear and tear, damaged caps. A new edition published one year after the original, of the epistolary novel by Claude-Joseph Dorat (1734–1780), illustrated with two beautiful inset engravings after Marillier, engraved by Duclos and De Ghendt. A novel in letters, conforming to the conventions of the libertine genre in its plot and choice of characters—who are prisoners of social convention—*Les Sacrifices de l’amour* recounts the attempts by the charming Chevalier de Versenai to seduce Mme de Senanges; attempts that would be justified by the marriage of convenience to which the heroine is bound. From the ensuing game of blind man’s bluff, the seducer’s persistent maneuvers, and the heroine’s resolute resistance, a paradoxical conclusion will ultimately emerge: “[...] on the one hand, that a woman in love can fulfill all the duties that run counter to her passion, and be all the more appealing for it; on the other, that there is no sacrifice that such a woman cannot obtain from the most ardent lover, if he is truly worthy of being loved."