{"product_id":"tout-est-possible-l-amitie-ou-histoire-de-milord-bcohgd1x","title":"Tout Est Possible a L'Amitié ou Histoire de Milord Love-Rose et de Sophie Mostain.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVery Rare.\u003c\/strong\u003e ESTC records only \u003cstrong\u003eClark Library\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln\u003c\/strong\u003e in the USA; \u003cstrong\u003eBibliothèque Mazarine\u003c\/strong\u003e only in Europe (“Imperfect; wanting preliminary leaf to vol. 2”). Texas A\u0026amp;M have a seemingly unique edition printed the following year in Liege. \u003cstrong\u003eNo copies recorded in Rare Book Hub.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA very handsome copy of a rare Anglo-French novel centred on the tortuous love story of Sophie Mostain and George Love-Rose who are separated by class but through various tragic travails end up happily married. Almost certainly printed in Paris but seemingly available on both sides of the Channel.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSophie and her eventual husband George are - rather unusually - first connected when they inadvertently become infected with the same strain of small pox (they share a mutual doctor who seems to have passed the disease between them). George, we are told, is “beau comme Adonis” and recently returned from fighting in the British Army: “c’est un brave garçon, bon Anglois; il a rossé ces chiens d’Américains…” (Vol I, p.46-7).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSophie’s house is destroyed by fire after a lightning strike and she eventually meets George in person but despite her strong feelings for him finds that he is promised to Amelia Grosvenor, a very wealthy woman chosen for him by his father. Very much like Richardson’s \u003cem\u003ePamela\u003c\/em\u003e, Sophie faces various travails as she first accepts George marrying Amelia (even continuing to live with the couple for a while) before she is violently kidnapped by a man who attempts to forcibly marry her but she remains devoted to George. At the end of the novel Amelia dies and after a polite period of mourning (and with the dead wife’s blessing) the couple at the centre of the novel are drawn together in a happy ending.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe main action of the novel is split between London and Paris with a couple of explanatory footnotes for a French reader such as a note that, “Les valets, en Angleterre, boivent peu de vin, vû son extrême cherté; la bierre est leur boisson ordinaire” (Vol I p.130), but there are also many pro-English sentiments such as when George is told, “tu es Anglois, ce mot suffit pour te dire que tu dois être brave \u0026amp; prudent…” (Vol I p.31) There is also a scene set in London’s Ranelagh pleasure gardens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the many novels written by Charlotte de Bournon (1753-1842) who married Jean-Étienne Malarmé in 1769 and became known as the Countess de Bournon-Malarmé. During the American Revolutionary War she accompanied her husband to America. Her 1782 novel \u003cem\u003eLe Fripon parvenu\u003c\/em\u003e which was co-authored with Henri-Alexis Cahaisse was deemed libellous and she was sent to the Bastille for nearly two months.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThomas Hookham (1739-1819) was a printer, bookseller, publisher and operator of a fashionable circulating library on Bond Street in London. There are at least ten books recorded in ESTC with the joint imprint of Hookham and “la veuve Duchesne” or Marie-Antoinette Duchesne (c.1713-1793) the Parisian bookseller and publisher who continued to run the business after the death of her husband in 1765.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance: Thomas Westwood (1814-88), poet, railway adminsitrator in Flanders, and collector and bibliographer of angling books, with his smaller armorail bookplate with the crest only. His library was sold by Henry Sotheran \u0026amp; Co. in 1897, though this title was not included. Paul Eudel (1837-1911), shipowner, silver collector and art critic and journalist, with his armorial bookplate, sale, Paris, 12-14 May, 1898, lot 266.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48883445530781,"sku":"263213","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/263213_01.jpg?v=1788785903","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/tout-est-possible-l-amitie-ou-histoire-de-milord-bcohgd1x","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}