Le Fameux Chinois. Par Mr Du Bail.
A Paris: Chez Nicolas de Sersy, au Palais, en la Salle Dauphine, à la Bonne Foy Couronnée, 1642. First edition, the Sersy issue. Contemporary full calf, covers ruled in blind, spine with five raised bands, gilt floral ornaments and gilt-lettered title, red-stained edges. [10] 545 [1] p. (Complete; several pages misnumbered.). Modern bookplate on inner front panel. Paper browned with age. Waterstaining to the upper outer corners. Some pages slightly overtrimmed, shaving the running titles. A few manuscript notes and corrections in later hands, notably on p. 222, where “Paris” has been corrected to “Pekin”, and annotations attempting to identify the historical figures behind the fictional characters, including Henri de Schomberg, Henri IV, Philip III of Spain, and Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. Overall in very good condition.
The first French novel featuring a Chinese setting and characters.
Considered the first French novel to feature a Chinese character, Le Fameux Chinois is an early example of French Oriental fiction, employing an imaginary Chinese setting to recount French history through disguised historical figures. (Miao Li, 2013)
The novel belongs to the earliest phase of French literary interest in China, preceding the emergence of Oriental fiction as a major genre in the eighteenth century. Although European knowledge of China had expanded through missionary and travel accounts, the country remained largely unfamiliar in French fiction. Du Bail uses an imagined Chinese monarchy as the framework for a historical roman à clef, recounting events from the reign of Henri III through the Wars of Religion, the reign and assassination of Henri IV, and the political conflicts of the early seventeenth century.
Louis Moreau du Bail was a French novelist and gentleman, probably originating from Poitou, whose literary activity extended from the 1620s to the 1640s. Little is known of his life, although his writings suggest familiarity with military affairs and aristocratic society. He published at least thirteen novels between 1622 and 1646, frequently drawing upon contemporary history and the lives of French noble families.
Le Fameux Chinois first appeared in Paris in 1642 under the imprints of two publishers, Cardin Besongne and Nicolas de Sercy. The two issues are identical apart from their title pages, with the present copy belonging to the Sercy issue.
The novel was subsequently republished as Le Roman de la Cour, ou les avantures guerrières et amoureuses d’Alcidor et d’Astasie (1645), a title that more explicitly reflects its character as a fictionalised account of French court history. An English translation, The Famous Chinois, or The Loves of Several of the French Nobility, under Borrowed Names, appeared in London in 1669, accompanied by a key identifying the historical figures represented in the narrative.
Scarce, WorldCat records only six copies of the work.
References: Miao Li (2013). La Chine et les Chinois dans les romans français du XVIIIe siècle. PhD dissertation, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; Pierre Martino (1906), L’Orient dans la littérature française au XVIIe et au XVIIIe siècle; Alain Niderst (1984), “Introduction à Du Bail,” Cahiers de la littérature du XVIIe siècle, 6, pp. 387–396; Mathilde Kang (2018), Francophonie and the Orient.
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Price: €5,000.00