Sur le Divorce. Malheur et Sensibilité.
Paris: Imprimerie et Fonderie de Fain, 1831. First edition. The present item, which was published during a period of repeated attempts to reestablish a right to divorce in France, collects sensational scenarios of young women trapped in marriages with adulterous and abusive husbands. Some foxing. Still a very good copy of a rare and fragile item. Disbound. 5 x 8 in. 39 pp. Item #17752
Divorce had been legalized in France in 1792, but it was abolished again in 1816 under the rule of Louis XVII. After Charles X was overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830, divorce bills were introduced every year until 1834, but each failed to pass the chamber of peers. Throughout the 1840s, French women’s organizations and publications like La Voix des Femmes advocated for the reestablishment of the right to divorce, receiving support from figures like Ernest Legouvé (1807 – 1903). Divorce was finally reestablished under the Third Republic in 1884.
We could not locate any information on the author of the present work. OCLC records only four copies, two in the United States (UC Berkeley, Harvard) and two in France (Bibliothèque nationale, Bibliothèque municipale de Lyone). Chastain, James, ed. “Divorce and Women in France.” Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions (2005). Accessed on the Ohio University website.
Price: $300.00