Musarion oder die Philosophie der Grazien.

Leipzig: Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1768. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo (200 x 121mm). 96pp. Engraved vignette to title depicting arguing characters. Scarce first edition. Original marbled paper board backed with morocco strip, lettered in gilt to second compartment; (light occasional foxing, light edgewear). The German poet and author Christoph Martin Wieland, sometimes called the German Voltaire, was a typical stylist of the German rococo period. Wieland wrote the Musarion oder die Philosophie der Grazien (Musarion, or the Philosophy of the Graces) in 1768 to open his series of ìlight and gracefulî romances in verse which appealed so irresistibly to his contemporaries and acted as an antidote to the sentimental excesses of the subsequent Sturm und Drang movement. His Musarion can be considered a continuation of his earlier novel Agathon (1766-1767), but the conflict between sensuous delight and purity of character is here softened by a spirit of renunciation. The overarching themes supported the balanced appreciation of the roles of both philosophy and love in a ìgracefulî life.