MONTOLIEU, Isabelle de (1751--1832)
Caroline de Lichtfield. Par Madame de ***. Publié par le traducteur de Werter. Cinquième édition. Tome premier. (- quatrième).
A Angers de l'Imprimerie nationale, chez Mame, [1791?].
4 vols ; 13.0 cm. (12º)
I: 176 p., engr. frontis.
II: 150 p.
III: 124 p.
IV: 154 p., 3 fold. pl. of engr. music

First published in 1786. Publication date suggested by works with the Angers imprint of the Imprimerie nationale 'chez Mame' in the Bibliothèque nationale dated 1791--2. Anonymous. 'Madame de***' = Isabelle Polier, baronne de Montolieu. 'Le traducteur de Werther' = Jacques Georges Deyverdun. Montolieu was a prolific francophone Swiss writer whose chief works were translations or imitations of German and English. The novel is based on 'Albertine', a short story itself derived from another source and subsequently adapted from the German by Nicolas de Bonneville and published in French in his Choix des petits romans, imités de l'allemand, 1786. Some editions bear the sub-title 'ou, Mémoires d'une famille prussienne'. The frontispiece illustration is unsigned. The music is by the author and M. Le comte de Calemberg. She made a 'free' translation of Jane Austen's Sense and sensibility and, later, the novels of Sir Walter Scott; she was also responsible for the French translation of Johann David Wyss's Der schweizersche Robinson which formed the basis of English editions of The Swiss family Robinson.

Binding C19th half calf, blind double-ruled borders, marbled-paper boards, gilt triple-ruled spines, red and green morocco spine-labels. Bound by Hood & McCullock for 6s., 22 November 1828. (Archives 7/10/24).

Reference Number 3814