The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane (Two Volumes, Complete)

by Lesage, Alain-Rene; Tobias George Smollett (trans)

$1,000 · Offered by Biblio

First edition

London: Effingham Wilson. Fine with No dust jacket as issued. 1833. First Edition Thus. First Printing. Leather. Magnificent half burgundy leather over silk boards, bound by Bayntun of Bath; spines in six compartments separated by raised bands, gilt lettering in two compartments, gilt tooling and borders in remainder, gilt borders on covers, a.e.g., marbled endpapers. Illustrated with 12 engravings by George Cruikshank. Translated from the French of Le Sage by T. Smollett, M.D., to which is Prefixed a Memoir of the Author by Thomas Roscoe. Gil Blas ( L Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane is a picaresque novel by Alain-Ren Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It is often considered to be the last masterpiece of the picaresque genre. This is the first edition of Gil Blas with the illustrations by George Cruikshank. The picaresque novel is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which might sometimes be satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. This style of novel originated in 16th-century Spain and flourished throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It continues to influence modern literature. Alain-Ren Lesage (1668-1747) was a French novelist and playwright best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks (1707), his comedy Turcaret (1709), and his picaresque novel Gil Blas (1715 1735). Lesage influenced many contemporary and later writers, incl

• Publisher: Effingham Wilson
• Year: 1833
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: first
• Binding: hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.