239 - RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas-Edme. *Les Gynographes, or Thoughts of Two Respectable Women on a Draft Regulation*.

RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas-Edme. *Les Gynographes, or Thoughts of Two Respectable Women on a Draft Regulation*. Published in The Hague by Gosse and Pinet, booksellers, and available in Paris from Humblot, bookseller, 1777. In-8 (20.5 x 13 cm), paperback volumes, in marbled paper covers; a copy as originally published, with full margins. Scuffs and micro-tears on the covers. First edition with a title page for the reissue. This work, printed in Paris, had appeared the previous year, bearing only the bookseller’s address: Paris, Humblot, 1776. Beginning on May 20, 1776, Rétif set about composing *Les Gynographes*, the third volume of *Idées singulières* (following *Le Pornographe* (1769) and *La Mimographe* (1770)). A curious project aimed at reforming women’s morals and social organization, in which the author examines education, marriage, and customs concerning women, before presenting a comprehensive comparative history of their condition across societies and a list of more than 700 famous women. With all the ambivalence typical of utopian theories, this “great admirer of women” nevertheless attributes numerous flaws and vices to them! “Impetuosity, carelessness, extravagance, treachery, darkness, baseness, sluggishness, and extreme selfishness—they possess them all.” A beautiful, complete set of the two volumes, well-preserved in their original period bindings.