Item #15617 Essai sur l'éducation des femmes. Remusat, comtesse de Claire-E J. Gravier de Vergennes.
Essai sur l'éducation des femmes.
Essai sur l'éducation des femmes.

Essai sur l'éducation des femmes.

Paris: Chez Ladvocat, 1824. First edition of a posthumous work by the comtesse de Rémusat (1780-1821). Spine and cover extremities lightly faded, a little light foxing. Old bookplate. A very good copy. Contemporary red calf over patterned boards. Spine decoratively stamped in gilt and blind, with brown morocco label. Octavo. xx, 276 pp. Item #15617

The author was gthe daughter of a counselor to the Parliament of Bourgogne who was a victim of the guillotine in 1794. She and her mother made the acquaintance of Josephine de Bauharnais, Napoleon's future wife, while taking refuge in Saint-Gratien, and she became a lady-in-waiting at Napoleon's court while her husband, Augustin de Rémusat became a court chamberlain. She quickly became known for her intelligence. Her most famous work is her Mémoirs, also published posthumously, which gives an intimate picture of life at court. In it, Rémusat expresses a growing disillusion with Napoleon, while maintaining a loyalty to Josephine. In Essai sur l'éducation, she expresses the belief that women should not write for publication, but should center their attentions around the home. Thus, in spite of her acknowledged intellect and talent for writing, she accepted the strictures of her era against women expressing their thoughts beyond a confined circle of friends and family.

This work contains a foreword by Rémusat's son. The French Academy awarded it a gold medal. Quérard VII/518; Hoefer XLI/976-980. See The Feminist Encyclopedia of French L.

Price: $350.00