Les Bijoux indiscrets
Exceptional copy of Les Bijoux indiscrets, the libertine novel by Diderot, bound in elegant contemporary red morocco, an extremely rare condition.
Paris, 1748.
2 volumes in 1 duodecimo, (4) leaves, 288 pp., 1 frontispiece and 4 illustrations; (2) leaves, 332 pp. and 2 illustrations.
Red morocco, triple fillet gilt bordering the covers, smooth spine decorated, green morocco title piece, gilt fillet on the edges, gilt inner roll, gilt edges. Contemporary morocco binding.
165 x 98 mm.
Diderot, Denis. The Indiscreet Jewels. First [Second] Volume.
Monomotapa, n.d. (1748),
One of the two editions of the Indiscreet Jewels which, according to bibliographers, compete for the title of “first edition ”.
Adams, BI3.
Tchemerzine and David Adams favor the 1748 edition with 370 and 420 pages, though with no certainty: “we prefer the edition with 370 and 420 pages, which we consider to be the original.”
F. Moureau leans toward the present 1748 edition with 288 and 332 pages, one copy of which bears Diderot’s manuscript corrections (pp. 218-222, K iv – K 3v).
In October 1747, Diderot was entrusted, along with d'Alembert, with the editorship of the Encyclopedia. The novel The Indiscreet Jewels appeared in January 1748. Diderot did not dare sign this very daring work, which he later regretted having written.
The novel is merely a pretext for an uncompromising portrayal of the fashionable and libertine society of the time.
Louis XV is easily recognized in the guise of the sultan, and Madame de Pompadour as the favorite. The capital is Paris, and the characters are courtiers.
Excellent in his composition of lively sketches of manners, Diderot, with a very libertine aspect, addresses various controversial topics of the time in a relevant and personal way.
Thus, evoking the issue of the reform of opera and comedy theater, he takes sides in the “quarrel between Ancients and Moderns”.
“This is the work of Diderot in which the pessimism of the dawning Enlightenment is most evident. Also burgeoning here are the main aesthetic ideas of the novelist and the causes he would never cease to champion: the fight against forced vocations, the praise of sexual freedom, considered as the only guarantee of loving fidelity. ”
This edition is illustrated with 6 full-page plates—some light, others quite curious—a frontispiece, and two ornaments on the titles.
Valuable copy preserved in its exceptional contemporary red morocco, as this edition is usually found only in contemporary sheepskin or calf.
