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MARMONTEL, [JEAN-FRANÇOIS] : LES INCAS, ou, La Destruction de l'Empire du Pérou

Chez La Société Typographique, Berne & Lausanne, 1777

Two vols. 8vo. (7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches), full contemporary crimson straight grain morocco, with a gilt chain border between two gilt fillets; smooth round spine divided into gilt panels, lavishly decorated. Board edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles; a.e.g. The front board of volume II has been stabbed with a pin or needle several times, only one of which has reached the first few leaves of the book, with no noticeable effect. Bookplate of the Hon. W. Wyndham and the signature of Sophia Bernard on the titles.First published the same year as editions printed in Paris, Liege, and Frankfurt, this edition contains 254 and 310 numbered pages and ten engraved plates (five in each volume) avant la lettre. Jean-François Marmontel (1723-99) was a friend and disciple of Voltaire and early in his career the author of some forgotten tragedies, some serious comedies, comic operas, a light comedy, and some slight tales, two mediocre historical romances, Bélisaire, which was condemned by the Sorbonne on account of a chapter on toleration (the censure serving only to render that body ridiculous and to advertise the book), and, in 1777, Les Incas, in which Las Casas figures as defender of the Indians. Marmontel was, moreover, the principal contributor of the literary articles in the Encyclopédie. He was a member from 1763, and later, from 1783, perpetual secretary, of the Académie, succeeding d'Alembert.Les Incas has become a scarce title of late. See: Sabin 44652.

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