[THEATER]. Le Misanthrope. Comedie en cinq actes et en vers

Paris: Barba, Hubert, 1817. Nouvelle edition. Very good. 12mo (205 x 135 mm). [3-5], 6-76 pp. Contemporary French cartonnage, gilt "romantique" frame on both covers, lettered in gilt on the front, and on the lower the large seal of the July 1830 monarchy (see below), all edges gilt, pastedowns and endleaves of gauffered percaline (minor scuffing to the covers and spine). A very attractive copy. A FINE RELIC OF LOUIS-PHILIPPE'S LIBERAL JULY MONARCHY (1830-1848), BEING A SPECIAL CARTONNAGE BINDING CREATED FOR A SINGLE PURPOSE, NAMELY FOR PRESENTATION TO AN ATTENDEE OF A COURTLY PRODUCTION OF "LE MISANTHROPE" AT VERSAILLES.

When Louis-Philippe became king in 1830, the Palace of Versailles had fallen into disrepair, having been largely unoccupied for more than four decades. In 1833 he sought to repurpose the sprawling and unimaginably huge complex for a non-residential "public" use, a program including building what became the Musee de l'Histoire de France. It is possible that our binding is an expression of his liberal policies of including non-royals in the activities of the palace.

The front cover is lettered in gold: "Palais de Versailles, Spectacle de la Cour, Representation du 10 juin 1837." On the back is the armorial device of Louis-Philippe with his "Charte du 9 aout 1830" in which he proclaimed himself as King of the French (and not "King of France").

Cataloguer's note: our copy, like that of the UPenn Kislak Center, does not have an integral leaf preceding the half-title which was presumably a blank.