Casanova de Seingalt, Jacques Sch》z, Wilhelm von Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt 1822
The Extremely Scarce True First Edition of Casanova s MemoirsCASANOVA DE SEINGALT, J[acques]. Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt, oder sein Leben, wie er es zu Dux in B派men niederschrieb. Nach dem Original-Manuscript bearbeitet von Wilhelm von Sch》z. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1822-1828.The extremely scarce true first edition of Casanova s Memoirs, preceding both the first pirated French edition (1825-1829) and the first Brockhaus French edition (1826-1838). Twelve small octavo volumes (6 1/16 x 4 1/16 inches; 154 x 103 mm.). vi, xxviii, 510 (pp. 353-368 incorrectly numbered 343-358); xxiv, 458, [2, publisher s advertisements]; vi, xlii, 455, [1, blank]; xviii, 549, [1, errata]; vi, 522, [1, errata], [1, blank]; vi, 536; vi, 507, [1, blank]; vi, 548; vi, 513, [1, blank]; vi, 546; vi, 546; vi, 537, [1, blank] pp.Contemporary half sheep over marbled boards. Smooth spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Minor rubbing to extremities, spine of Volume X cracked. Minimal foxing and browning, a few small stains. Clean tear (2 3/8 inch) to leaf 7/4 (pp. 103/104) in Volume II, a few minor marginal paper flaws. Bookplate of Dr. Kurt und Gerty Ulrich on front pastedown of each volume. A wonderful set. This is the veritable first edition of the Memoirs, which was a translation from the French into German. The first five volumes were the work of Sch》z and the first four contain valuable prefaces by him. he name of Sch》z disappears from the title page of the sixth and succeeding volumes. Brockhaus has never disclosed the name of the translator of the last seven volumes. The first volume was ready in 1821 but bears the date, 1822, as does the second. The third and fourth volumes are dated 1823; the fifth, 1824; the sixth and seventh, 1825, the eighth and ninth, 1826; the tenth, 1827; and the final two, 1828. The expurgation of the text by Sch》z went considerably farther than that by his successor, although both translators omitted text which Laforgue [the editor of the French edition published by Brockhaus, 1826-1838] retained. On the other hand, some of the text which Laforgue omitted has been preserved in the German translation and the edition is very valuable on that account (J. Rives Childs, Casanoviana). In 1821 the great German publishing firm of Brockhaus in Leipzig was approached by a nephew of Casanova, following the latter s death in 1798, with an offer of the manuscript text of the Memoirs. The transaction was concluded after Brockhaus had examined the text and had obtained the advice of a number of scholars attesting to its exceptional interest and value The first edition of the Memoirs was published in German in Leipzig by Brockhaus, between the years 1822 and 1828, in twelve volumes A pirated edition [was] published by Tournachon-Molin, in Paris, 1825-1829, in fourteen volumes. Strictly speaking, it is the first French edition The second Brockhaus edition, edited by Jean Laforgue (1782-1852) in French, [was] published in Leipzig and Brussels in the years 1826-1838, in twelve volumes. It is the most complete edition and is the one on which most reprints have been based The first French edition, the pirated one of Tournachon-Molin, is curiously enough a French translation, from the Schutz German translation, of the original French text of Casanova, after numerous excisions by Schutz. It is probably the least interesting of all editions of Casanova as it is the most bowdlerized Yet it was the first to be made available in French to the French public, and its success was such that Brockhaus himself determined to issue a French edition. To compete with the pirated French edition it was necessary for the new French edition to be more inclusive than either the former or Schutz This last-mentioned edition, known generally as the Laforgue, from the name of the French professor in Dresden who edited it in French for Brockhaus, has obtained until the present time general acceptance as the standard edition of the Memoirs. It is far and away more complete than any other edition (J. Rives Childs, A Clue to the Mystery of Casanova s Memoirs, in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Volume 46 (1952), pp. 288-290). There can be little disputing the fact that the Memoirs of Casanova is one of the great books of the world. It offers, as no other work, an incomparable picture of the eighteenth century. The author traveled almost everywhere in the Europe of his day His account of life in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Moscow, Petersburg, Warsaw, and Geneva is hardly equaled in the literature of the times. Casanova did not confine his acquaintances to kings and nobles: not the least interesting feature of his Memoirs is his description of the rakes and charlatans whom he encountered in every corner of Europe. He rubbed shoulders in easy camaraderie with nuns and prelates, no less than with gamblers and prostitutes, and he has spared us no details of an almost inimitable life (J. Rives Childs, A Clue to the Mystery of Casanova s Memoirs, p. 287).J. Rives Childs, Casanoviana, pp. 128-130, no. 2.
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