[Rarebooks] fa: BIBLIOTHEQUE UNIVERSELLE DES ROMANS 1775-89 - 109 vols. NEARLY COMPLETE RUN

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

On eBay now, along with a number of other 18th-century French titles  
in period bindings, ending Sunday, Feb. 8. More details and photos can  
be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name  
arch_in_la.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZarch_in_la

Merci,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

A nearly complete run of this monumental and influential compendium of  
literature and criticism, "by far the most comprehensive effort of the  
eighteenth century to imagine what a history of the novel and romance  
might look like" (Cambridge Companion to Fiction in the Romantic  
Period).

BIBLIOTHEQUE UNIVERSELLE DES ROMANS, Ouvrage Periodique. Dans lequel  
on donne l’analyse raisonnee des Romans anciens & modernes, François,  
ou traduits dans notre Langue; avec des Anecdotes & des Notices  
historiques & critiques concernant les Auteurs, ou leurs Ouvrages;  
ainsi que les moeurs, les usages du temps, les circonstances  
particulieres & relatives, & les Personnages connus, deguises ou,  
emblematiques. Paris: Lacombe, 1775-1789 (from Avril, 1777 on, the  
title-page bears the imprint: Paris : Au Bureau; Au Bureau & Lacombe).  
109 (of 112) volumes; 12mo (16.5 x10) in full period mottled calf,  
spines and morocco spine labels stamped in gilt, marbled endpapers,  
page edges sprinkled red.

Each volume contains two issues of the Bibliotheque Universelle des  
Romans, which  was issued 16 times per year (except in its first and  
last years, when only 8 issues came out). This set contains all but  
three volumes (6 issues) of the complete fourteen-year, 112-volume  
(224-issue) run, from the very first issue, Juillet (July) 1775,  
through the last, Juin (June) 1789. The missing volumes are: Juillet  
(parts 1 & 2) 1784; Mai & Juin 1785; and Avril (parts 1 & 2) 1788. The  
years 1775-1783, 1786, 1787, and 1789 are complete. The final volume  
includes an index to the entire run ("Table alphabétique des extraits").

The Bibliotheque Universelle, a sort of high-brow 18th-century  
forerunner of Reader's Digest, "provided résumés of, and occasionally  
extracts from, works of fiction from a wide range of periods and  
languages, together with background information and critical comment.  
The founders were Jean-François Bastide and the Marquis de Paulmy  
d'Argenson. When the latter withdrew in 1778, Bastide continued as  
editor until 1788. In the early days the series had some scholarly  
pretensions, but these declined, possibly because of readers'  
reactions, and the number of contributions on ancient works became  
less frequent. In some cases, such as the nouvelles of Madame  
Riccoboni, the Bibliothèque even published new works; it also admitted  
a few historical works, plays, poems, and tales from contemporary  
journals. Entries were classed under eight headings, as novels  
‘traduits du latin et du grec’, ‘de chevalerie’, ‘d'amour’, ‘de  
spiritualite’, etc. In all, the collection provided about 1,000  
articles, of which nearly one-third dealt with foreign works. While  
not directly reflecting the tastes of the reading public, the  
Bibliotheque does demonstrate increasing recognition of the novel as a  
reputable literary genre, and its commentaries illustrate the then  
current critical standards" (New Oxford Companion to Literature in  
French).

An invaluable resource for the study of Medieval romances and the  
Chansons de Geste, the Bibliotheque is also "an important primary  
source of the publication history of the 18th-century novel," thanks  
to its staggeringly comprehensive survey of contemporary fiction, both  
literary and trashy, both in French and in translation — English  
authors being particularly well represented: Swift, Fielding,  
Goldsmith, Fanny Burney, etc...