299 - [VOLTAIRE - RÉTIF DE LA BRETONNE]. A collection of pamphlets, poems, and satirical pieces, including Voltaire’s *Letters on *La Nouvelle Héloïse* and Rétif de La Bretonne’s *Le Pornographe*.

[VOLTAIRE - RÉTIF DE LA BRETONNE]. A collection of pamphlets, poems, and satirical pieces, including Voltaire’s *Letters on *La Nouvelle Héloïse* and Rétif de La Bretonne’s *Le Pornographe*. An important 18th-century collection of 10 pamphlets, poems, and satirical pieces, most in their first editions, including notably Voltaire’s *Letters on *La Nouvelle Héloïse* and Rétif de La Bretonne’s *Le Pornographe*. 10 works in 1 in-8 volume (120 x 190 mm), full brown marbled sheepskin, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fleurons and a red title label reading “Le Pornographe,” gilt roulette on the edges, red edges. Joints partially split, scuffs, minor worm damage on the covers, very rare foxing. An excellent facsimile collection. Beyond the major works by Voltaire and Rétif de La Bretonne, these pamphlets provide a comprehensive overview of the quarrels and provocations of the 1760s and 1770s. Whether they are scathing attacks on the Paris Opera (*Concours pittoresque*), libertine verses by Robbé de Beauveset (*Mon odyssée*), or theatrical parodies printed clandestinely (such as the rare *Colloque de maître Tirepied*). On the upper inside front cover, a handwritten table of contents in black ink lists the collected titles, and within the text there are a few handwritten corrections and annotations, primarily of a typographical nature. Contains: - [MARCHAND, Jean-Henri]. *La Bataille de Fontenoy, ou l'apothéose moderne*, an opera-tragedy in 3 acts, translated from the Greek by a cyclopedist. At Chambord, 1768. 80 pp. First edition. On the title page, a handwritten annotation reading “M. Marchant, attorney” followed by “Prof. the Honorable Jean de Tanlay,” a probable reference to Jean-Baptiste-Joachim Thévenin de Tanlay (1736–1799), a Burgundian lord of the famous Château de Tanlay and Governor of the pages of the King’s Petite Écurie at Versailles under Louis XV. - The Temple of Taste, or The Festivals of Tempé. A poem in one canto. In Plaisance, 1769, with handwritten corrections. 12 pp. First edition. - Letter to Mr. Chevalier de *** on the new opera *Ernelinde* (1769). 15 pp. First edition. - [VOLTAIRE]. Letters on *La Nouvelle Héloïse*, or *Aloisia* by J.-J. Rousseau. 29 pp. 1761. First edition (see Beuchot, *Œuvres de Voltaire*, vol. XL). - TACONET, Toussaint-Gaspard. *La Mort du bœuf gras*, a comic tragedy. Hérissant, 1767. 16 pp. First edition. - A Picturesque Contest for the Embellishment of the Opera. London and Paris, Le Jay, 1770. 39 pp. First edition. - [ROBBÉ DE BEAUVESET, Pierre-Honoré]. *My Odyssey, or The Journal of My Return from Saintonge*, a poem to Chloé in 4 cantos. The Hague, 1760. 125 pp., 1 title vignette, and 4 engravings by Cochin after Desfriches. First edition of these satirical verses recounting the author’s picaresque adventures on the road from Jonzac to Orléans, passing through Saintes, Chinon, Tours, Amboise, and Blois. - Dialogue Between a Priest and His Godson. The Hague, Neaulme, 1767. 23 pp. First edition of this bitter satire against Grosley, attributed by some to André Le Fèvre, a relative of Grosley, and by others to Montroger, a friend of Le Fèvre. - A Conversation Between Maître Tirepied and Richard Sangouidimi (1769). 14 pp. First edition. - [RÉTIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas Edme]. *Le Pornographe, or Reflections by an Honest Man on a Proposed Regulation for Prostitutes, Designed to Prevent the Misfortunes Caused by Women’s Publicity*, with historical and explanatory notes. Published in London by Jean Nourse and in The Hague by Gosse Jr., 1770. 215 pp. Second edition following the original of 1769, published by the same publisher, Delalain, who printed it under a false address in order to circumvent censorship. This book constitutes a veritable manifesto for the regulation of prostitution, which Nicolas Edme Rétif de La Bretonne (1734–1806) proposes to establish as a public institution. Since prostitution is viewed as a necessary evil, the aim is to control it through the creation of specialized brothels, supervised by the police and doctors and administered in such a way as to guarantee a home for the children of sex workers. The author thus envisions an ideal brothel, called a “parthénion,” placed under state control. His plan encompasses all aspects of the residents’ daily lives, establishing rules for food, laundry, and hygiene. This proposal for the regulation of prostitutes is unique in that it takes a literary form, with Rétif de La Bretonne using letters to Madame des Tianges to detail the situation of prostitutes. The second part addresses the state of prostitution in several European countries and cities. A beautiful volume bound in period binding.