Lettres d'amour d'une religieuse portugaise. Ecrites au chevalier de C. Officier François en Portugal. Enrichies & augmentées de plusieurs nouvelles Lettres, fort tendres & passionnées de la Presidente F. à Mr. le Baron de B. Dernière édition

12mo. ff. [2] (blank), pp. [6], 7-310, ff. [2] (blank). Calf. Gilded spine on 4 bars, red panel. Gilded and tooled boards' edges. Floral motif in red and green on edges. Paraph on last page. Head- and tailpieces, engraved initials. Printer's device on title page. Full-page engraving with motto "C'est ainsi que l'amour salume [sic] dans le cœur", and signature "Hadebrugge invent. et sc." "Reponces du Chevalier de C. aux lettres d'amour d'une religieuse en Portugal. Edition Nouvelle" and "Nouvelles lettres d'amour, fort tendres et Passionnées de la Presidente F. à Mr. le Baron de B." have each a separate title page (with continuous paging). Chevalier de C is the Chevalier de Chamilly; Presidente F. is Anne Ferrand; Mr. le Baron de B. is Breteuil. In French, supposedly translated from the Portuguese.

While the Portuguese nun Maria Alcoforado (1640-1723) is historical, the five famous "Portuguese letters", first published in 1669, introducing a great vogue, are almost certainly fictive, the probable work of Gabriel Joseph de la Vergne, vicomte de Guilleragues (the supposed translator). The additional seven letters that are included here, along with ‘plusieurs nouvelles lettres [...] de la Presidente F. à Mr. le Baron de B.’, are both fictive and spurious sequels, first published in 1669 by Claude Barbin (see Bib# 1654230/Fr# 309.2 for a facsimile reprint). Most modern editions omit them.

Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.