SENANCOUR (Étienne de). On the current generations.... - Lot 75 - Ader

SENANCOUR (Étienne de). On the current generations. Human absurdities. Dreamer of the Alps. Paris [Neuchâtel: Louis Fauche Borel], The year 1793 of the Christian era. - In-8, 166 x 100: (2 ff.), iv, 415 pp. Speckled havana calf, smooth spine decorated, speckled edges (contemporary binding). Monglond, II, 952: Very rare first edition of this essay by the writer Étienne de Senancour (1770-1846 ). It is the second work of the author, published, like the previous one, under the pseudonym of the "Dreamer of the Alps". Senancour was only 23 years old when he published it. Addressing the painful absurdities of the present, the author takes up some of the themes he had already addressed in his first work entitled Les premiers âges, which dealt with the uncertainties of youth. He is very sceptical, wanting to flee from a present that overwhelms and disgusts him, revolting in particular against traditional religion, which is narrow-minded and hypocritical in his eyes. According to Monglond, this edition was printed in Neuchâtel and not in Paris. It is so rare that it escaped most bibliographers, including Joachim Merlant, author of the Bibliographie de Senancour published in 1905. The binding is very damaged, the hinge of the first plate is cracked and fragile, and the hinge of the second plate is cracked . Flattened caps, missing ends of spine, blunt corners. The title piece has been removed. Freckles on the inside. The O and Q sections have been switched.