519 - [RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas)]. *La Mimographe, or Ideas from a Respectable Woman for the Reform of the National Theater*. Amsterdam, Changuion; The Hague, Gosse and Pinet, 1770. In-8, [1] folio (half-title “Idées singulières / tome second,” errata), [1] folio (title page with Rousseau’s quotation on the reverse), pp. 7–466. Havana calfskin, decorated ribbed spine, title label missing, green volume number label “II” (contemporary binding). Headbands torn off, joints and corners worn.

[RESTIF de LA BRETONNE (Nicolas)]. *La Mimographe, or Ideas from a Respectable Woman for the Reform of the National Theater*. Amsterdam, Changuion; The Hague, Gosse and Pinet, 1770. In-8, [1] folio (half-title “Idées singulières / tome second,” errata), [1] folio (title page with Rousseau’s quotation on the reverse), pp. 7–466. Havana calfskin, decorated ribbed spine, title label missing, green volume number label “II” (contemporary binding). Headbands torn off, joints and corners worn. First edition of this work devoted to theater reform, which constitutes, after *Le Pornographe*, the second volume of Rétif de la Bretonne’s *Idées singulières*. In it, the author provides, in particular, valuable accounts of the theaters on the Boulevard du Temple, their actors, and their actresses. Printed in a run of 2,000 copies, the work was never reprinted or pirated. The quotation from Rousseau, taken from his *Letter to Mr. d’Alembert on the Performing Arts*, appears on the reverse of the title page, and not on the reverse of the errata sheet (A2), as is typically described by bibliographers. This A2 sheet is, in fact, missing from this copy; the errata are found here on the reverse side of the half-title page. (Rives-Childs, p. 215; Lacroix, p. 104: “This work is rare, perhaps very rare.”) A few foxing spots.