La Pucelle d'Orleans.... Suivie du Temple du Gout, &c.

[Geneva]: [Cramer et Bardin], 1775. Edition encadré," volume 11.. Octavo (21 cm); 420 pages, portrait frontispiece (by Martinet) and 21 engraved plates. Text within typographic borders. Bound in contemporary etched leather scored in gilt. Spine decorated in gilt, with leather labels. Marbled endpapers. Boards somewhjat splayed. Negligible loss at head and tail. Hinges starting. Upper joint reinforced. Contents clean.
References: Cohen-De Ricci, 1042; Bengescu, Voltaire IV, #2141

Volume 11 only of the 40-volume "edition encadré" published in 1775 by Cramer et Bardin, the last edition of Voltaire's works published under the author's supervision. Then as now, La Pucelle d'Orleans was Voltaire's most consumed work, so it is not surprising to find this volume detached from the its 39 companions. Voltaire's greatest poem, but not the one you read in school. With Ariosto in mind, Voltaire rewrote the Joan of Arc story with all the wit and critical distance of an 18th-century libertine. The result is that France's sainted woman warrior becomes the vehicle for an intelligent and licentious burlesque. Good and right-thinking people have always found it offensive, but it doesn't really care. Nice binding, charming illustrations.