478 - [COURTILZ DE SANDRAS (Gatien)?]. *The Frustrated Grand Alcandre: or the Last Efforts of Love & Virtue*. Montauban, Salary, 1719. Small 12mo, [5] leaves, 204 pp. Engraved frontispiece. Old vellum. Wear.

[COURTILZ DE SANDRAS (Gatien)?]. *The Frustrated Grand Alcandre: or the Last Efforts of Love & Virtue*. Montauban, Salary, 1719. Small 12mo, [5] leaves, 204 pp. Engraved frontispiece. Old vellum. Wear. A rare Montauban edition of this romantic and satirical novel, first published in 1696 and attributed to Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras. Under the transparent pseudonym “Grand Alcandre,” Louis XIV appears as a sovereign in love, whose attempts at seduction are met with resistance from a virtuous countess. In contrast to accounts celebrating the monarch’s amorous conquests, the work mocks his romantic pretensions and offers an irreverent portrait of the court of Versailles. This short roman à clef belongs to the tradition of clandestine and satirical literature that, in the late 17th century, helped to undermine the official image of the Sun King. JE bookplate illustrated with an owl.