Lot 25
25
LATUDE, Jean-Henri Masers de. Mémoires de Henri Masers de Latude ... prisonnier pendant trente-cinq années à la Bastille et à Vincennes, sous le nom de Daury; à Charenton sous celui de Danger; et à Bicêtre, sous celui de Jedor. Nouvelle édition, Paris: chez Latude, Desenne et Denné, de l'imprimerie de la veuve Lejay, 1793, 2 volumes, 8°, PRESENTATION COPY TO A MEMBER OF THE MILNES FAMILY, verso of frontispieces to volume I inscribed: "Evoyé par l'auteur à son bon ami Milnes en Anglete[rre]," signed and dated "Paris le 9 Avril La 2e Liberté 1793," authentification leaf also signed by Latude in keeping with other copies, volume I: xvi + 265 + [1]p., volume II: 187 + [1]p., hand-coloured stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait to each volume (some spotting, frontispiece to vol. II torn along two sides of plate mark, B4 of the same vol. with repaired tear at lower margin, G6-I4 with greenish stain at lower gutter, inscription itself slightly cropped by binder), CONTEMPORARY
LATUDE, Jean-Henri Masers de. Mémoires de Henri Masers de Latude ... prisonnier pendant trente-cinq années à la Bastille et à Vincennes, sous le nom de Daury; à Charenton sous celui de Danger; et à Bicêtre, sous celui de Jedor. Nouvelle édition, Paris: chez Latude, Desenne et Denné, de l'imprimerie de la veuve Lejay, 1793, 2 volumes, 8°, PRESENTATION COPY TO A MEMBER OF THE MILNES FAMILY, verso of frontispieces to volume I inscribed: "Evoyé par l'auteur à son bon ami Milnes en Anglete[rre]," signed and dated "Paris le 9 Avril La 2e Liberté 1793," authentification leaf also signed by Latude in keeping with other copies, volume I: xvi + 265 + [1]p., volume II: 187 + [1]p., hand-coloured stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait to each volume (some spotting, frontispiece to vol. II torn along two sides of plate mark, B4 of the same vol. with repaired tear at lower margin, G6-I4 with greenish stain at lower gutter, inscription itself slightly cropped by binder), CONTEMPORARY "ETRSUCAN" CALF PROBABLY BOUND BY THE EDWARDS OF HALIFAX BINDERY, outer Greek key roll enclosing a stained border of classical palmettes, central panel of speckled calf with Grecian urn in the sun's rays at centre, spines in six compartments, two lettered with blue goatskin labels, the others tooled in gilt and blind, gilt inner dentelles, spot-marbled endpapers (headcaps and tooling on the spines worn, extremities rubbed). (2)

Details
LATUDE, Jean-Henri Masers de. Mémoires de Henri Masers de Latude ... prisonnier pendant trente-cinq années à la Bastille et à Vincennes, sous le nom de Daury; à Charenton sous celui de Danger; et à Bicêtre, sous celui de Jedor. Nouvelle édition, Paris: chez Latude, Desenne et Denné, de l'imprimerie de la veuve Lejay, 1793, 2 volumes, 8°, PRESENTATION COPY TO A MEMBER OF THE MILNES FAMILY, verso of frontispieces to volume I inscribed: "Evoyé par l'auteur à son bon ami Milnes en Anglete[rre]," signed and dated "Paris le 9 Avril La 2e Liberté 1793," authentification leaf also signed by Latude in keeping with other copies, volume I: xvi + 265 + [1]p., volume II: 187 + [1]p., hand-coloured stipple-engraved frontispiece portrait to each volume (some spotting, frontispiece to vol. II torn along two sides of plate mark, B4 of the same vol. with repaired tear at lower margin, G6-I4 with greenish stain at lower gutter, inscription itself slightly cropped by binder), CONTEMPORARY "ETRSUCAN" CALF PROBABLY BOUND BY THE EDWARDS OF HALIFAX BINDERY, outer Greek key roll enclosing a stained border of classical palmettes, central panel of speckled calf with Grecian urn in the sun's rays at centre, spines in six compartments, two lettered with blue goatskin labels, the others tooled in gilt and blind, gilt inner dentelles, spot-marbled endpapers (headcaps and tooling on the spines worn, extremities rubbed). (2)

Lot Essay

Henri Masers de Latude (1725-1805), adventurer, was born Jean Henri, the son of a spouseless woman at Montagnac in Languedoc; he underwent many changes of name, and only elected to become the son of Henri Visec de la Tude when news of the latter's death came to him in the Bastille. His long confinment derived from his attempt to obtain employment with Mme. de Pompadour by pretending to reveal a plot (of his own concoction) against her. This was in April, 1749. He was imprisoned in May, 1749, after the discovery that the hand on the suspect package addressed to her was his own; there were suspicions that others were involved in the plot; and his eventual confession was not believed. His long confinement was the result not just of Mme. de Pompadour's "tyranny" but the reaction of the authorities to his attempts to escape. On his release in 1784, which owed much to the efforts of Mme. Legros, Latude quickly achieved and maintained celebrity status. Twenty editions of the Mémoires were exhausted in 1793, and the work remains one of the classics of 18th-century prison literature.

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