Jacques le Fataliste
First edition of Jacques the Fatalist. Copy preserved in its period binding.
2 volumes 8vo: I/ (2) leaves, XXII, [23-286] pp., (1) blank leaf; II/ (2) leaves, 320 pp., (1) blank leaf. Mottled glazed calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, citron morocco title and volume labels, red edges.
Contemporary binding.
196 x 121 mm.
Diderot, Denis. Jacques the Fatalist and His Master.
Paris, Buisson, Year Five of the Republic (1796).
First edition of Diderot’s famous philosophical tale.
Adams, JF1; Tchemerzine, II, 965.
The text preceding the work, “To the Memory of Diderot,” is by Jakob-Heinrich Meister, friend of Necker and successor to Grimm as editor of the Correspondance littéraire.
In 1765, Diderot sought to sell his library as a dowry for his daughter. Empress Catherine II of Russia bought it, but allowed him to keep it for life. Invited to Saint Petersburg, Diderot undertook the journey at age 60, in 1773. Barely on his way, he began this novel; he spent five months at the Russian court and completed Jacques the Fatalist during this stay in Russia.
“Like Rameau’s Nephew, ‘Jacques the Fatalist’ is a long dialogue, but this dialogue contains all sorts of adventures, stories, and extremely varied digressions… This novel, quite original and unusual in its presentation and spirit, is reminiscent of many 18th-century novels: from Lesage’s ‘The Devil upon Two Sticks’ to Voltaire’s ‘Candide’ and Sterne’s ‘The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.’ Diderot himself acknowledged that Sterne’s work was his main source. The exuberance of many scenes, the freedom of the language, and the liveliness of the narration also reveal the influence of Rabelais, of whom Diderot was always a fervent admirer. And Jacques is, in some ways, reminiscent of Panurge. Nevertheless, the work remains one of the most original in all of French literature, even because of its apparent flaws – but these are intentional, designed – due to the intertwining of its episodes, the density of subjects, and the variety of digressions that renew, from page to page, its appeal. It is certainly one of the works in which Diderot’s vigorous, paradoxical, generous, and often brilliant temperament most openly emerges.” (Dictionnaire des Œuvres).
Precious copy on Holland paper, large margins, preserved in its contemporary binding.
