MARMONTEL - Belisaire. Paris, Chez Tiger, s.d.... Lot 371

MARMONTEL - Belisaire. Paris, Chez Tiger, s.d. (circa 1820); in-12, frontispiece, 108 + frontispiece, 108 pp. in half-brown calf binding, smooth spine decorated, edges speckled. Fine condition, 2 parts bound into 1. Jean-François Marmontel was an 18th-century writer. He published novels, historical essays, poetry and plays, and even contributed to the Encyclopédie, where he was very close to Voltaire. During the Revolution, he became close to Necker, and was often suspected by revolutionaries of being a royalist sympathizer. Le Bélisaire, a novel advocating religious freedom, earned him the wrath of clerics and censors. Yet the censors only worked to publicize the work and make it a success. Consultant : Mr. Philippe HENRY