L'art de connoitre les femmes, avec une dissertatio sur l’adultère. Par le Chevalier Plante-Amour.
A la Haye: Chez Jaques Vanden Kieboom, Libraire dans le Pooten, 1730. First edition. Binding extremities lightly rubbed, intermittent light browning. A very good copy. Contemporary mottled sheep. Gilt spine, tooled in compartments, burgundy morocco label, edges sprinkled red. Twelvemo. [xxxii], 349, [1] pp. Item #16200
Bruys (1708-1738) was born at Serrieres in the Maconnois , studied in Geneva, and then went to the Hague, where he became a Calvinist. A dispute with some divines led to his leaving Holland, from whence he retired to Germany and ultimately returned to France, where he decanted before dying at Dijon. He published a five volume history of the popes (1730) and several historical works. The present work, an attempt to understand the female character, includes chapters on the education of girls, religion and devotion, love, continence and chastity, marriage, fashion, lying and flattery, friendship, pride, etc. It concludes with a dissertation on adultery. The author does not always regard women favorably. This book was quickly reprinted and translated into English and Dutch.
OCLC lists four copies in North America: Berkeley, UCLA, Kansas and Princeton. Cioranescu 14393.
Price: $750.00