Campagne de Louis XIV.

12mo of (1) leaf, VII-265 pp., (4) pp.

Speckled vellum, spine with raised bands, red morocco title label, red edges. Contemporary binding.

153 x 90 mm.

Racine, Jean. Campaign of Louis XIV. By Mr. Pelisson. With the comparison of Francis I. with Charles V. By M.***.

Paris, Mesnier, 1730.

Rare first edition.

Tchemerzine, V, 369; Barbier, I, 484; Guibert, 285-289.

“The Campaign of Louis XIV, despite the attribution in the title, is the work of Jean Racine and Boileau. The Comparison is thought to be by Varillas” (Guibert).

“Informed sources assert that this Campaign of Louis XIV was written by Racine and Boileau. It was reprinted in 1784 under their names, from a manuscript in the Valincourt library, who had it from Boileau and entrusted it to Abbé Vatry” (Quérard, III, 1034).

In his marriage certificate, Racine is described as a royal counselor and Treasurer of France, and in May 1677, he was appointed with Boileau as royal historiographer.

Louis XIV ordered them to leave everything to devote themselves to recounting his life. This position tied Racine to the court, where he succeeded through his noble demeanor, elegant speech and delicate tact.

Upon returning from his first campaign, so short and so glorious, the king said to them: “I am sorry you did not come with me; you would have seen the war, and your journey would not have been long. Your Majesty,” Racine replied, “did not give us time to have our outfits made.”

The two historiographers followed the king to the sieges of Ghent and Ypres in 1678, and to Alsace in 1683. Racine went alone to Luxembourg in 1687, and attended the king’s last campaigns in Flanders in 1691, 1692, and 1693.

He took his task very seriously, seeking information and memoirs everywhere.

In 1690, Jean Racine was ennobled by Louis XIV, becoming a Gentleman-in-Ordinary to the King.

He had, in his role as historiographer, written a History of the Reign of Louis XIV which was far advanced at the time of his death; it perished in a fire (1726); only a fragment remains, the Campaign of 1672 to 1678.

The work is a eulogy addressed to King Louis XIV. Close to the king and a frequent presence at court, the author provides a precise account of the conquests of Louis XIV.

Racine, drawing mainly on Greek Antiquity for the subjects of his works, was considered a conservative author and aligned with the “Ancients.”

However, this work by Racine is more complex than that. Beneath the praises addressed by the writer to the king, we may discern some reservations of the author about the reign of Louis XIV.

Remember that Britannicus, a historical depiction of the character of Nero’s court, had strongly impressed King Louis XIV, who believed he saw in it criticism of his own conduct.

At the time, “any political debate was gagged and all histories of civil wars had to advance masked. Racine’s work conveys a traditional critique of tyranny present in the author’s tragedies.”

Blending tradition and modernity, the Campaign of Louis XIV, a concise laudatory account of the king’s feats of arms, also attests to the author’s interest in and questions about the people whose misery was increasing as the reign of Louis XIV drew to a close.

Attractive copy preserved in contemporary mottled vellum binding.

Provenance: Library of A. Perreau, with bookplate.

Only five copies are recorded in national and international institutions: 4 at the BnF and 1 at the Danish National Bibliothek.