STAËL-HOLSTEIN (Germaine de). - Lot 79

STAËL-HOLSTEIN (Germaine de). Réflexions sur le suicide, suivies de la défence de la reine, Publiée en août 1793; et de Lettres sur les écrits et le caractère de J. J. Rousseau. Paris : H. Nicolle, Mame frères, 1814. - In-8, shagreened basane, smooth spine decorated, speckled edges (period binding). First edition printed in France, following those published successively in Stockholm and London in 1813. "Knowing how to suffer is the quintessentially romantic question to which Germaine de Staël devoted her life and work. Her Réflexions sur le suicide, written during the winter of 1811-1812 and published in 1813, in the combined pain of exile and early old age, testify to a desire to take stock of her life and work. The book takes a philosophical approach to a theme, but also to a temptation, that punctuated all her literary works and private correspondence" (Maxime Foerster, "Suicide et enthousiasme chez Germaine de Staël" in: "Romantisme", n° 173, 2016, p. 125). The edition is enlarged by the "Défense de la reine" and the "Lettres sur les écrits et le caractère de J. J. Rousseau", which first appeared in 1793 and 1788 respectively. The second preface to the "Lettres" appears here for the first time. Lacking at the head cover and a tear at the spine, otherwise a pleasant copy in contemporary binding.