The Rousseau of the Gutter

Monsieur Nicolas, ou le Cœur Humain Dévoilé.

Paris: Editions du Cent Cinquantenaire, 1956.

Price: $200.00


About the item

Bailivet, Suzanne. "La Présente Édition de "Monsieur Nicolas", complète en quatre volumes, a ete imprimee a paris en 1956 et 1957, par Priester Freres pour la typographie et par Mourlot Freres pour la lithographie. Le Tome IV ayant ete termine en Septembre 1957. Cet ouvrage a ete tire a 492 exemplaires, touts sur papier Velin du Marais. 410 exemplaires portant les numeros 82 a 492. Exemplaire 274" avec des lithographies originales de Suzanne Ballivet. 4 vols. 4to. The Rousseau of the Gutter. Original Wrappers. Fine in fine orange pictorial chemises & slipcases.

Item #216904

Restif de la Bretonne, sometimes known as the "Rousseau of the gutter", wrote some 250 novels, mostly based on his own rather libertine lifestyle and characterized by detailed realism. His novels, licentious though they may be, depict the lives, misfortunes, and manners of the peasant classes, and thus provide valuable information about the social and economic life of the French people during the years before the French Revolution. At the same time, his work has moral or didactic pretensions. As such, Restif's work can be seen as a precursor of the realistic novels of the nineteenth century.