Books

[London: privately printed by Catherine Maria Bury, Countess of Charleville, 1796. First Edition, large paper copy (one of just 5). The first complete English translation. Large 8vo (just under 24 cm), pp. 227 218. Untrimmed. Bound in later 3/4 red morocco and plain boards (rubbed along the extremities), without the half title. "Mostly all of the copies were destroyed, the freedom of the translation being considered injurious to the memory of Lady Charleville. Only 5 copies were printed on large paper. See the notes to the Renouard copy no. 1349- sale by Sotheby June 30, 1834." The preface and notes cover 5 pages. ESTC; T137636.A nice clean tight set. A poem about Joan of Arc. From Wikipedia: "Voltaire was undoubtedly one of the most controversial writers and philosophers of the Enlightenment Age, and The Maid of Orleans was also certainly one of his more contentious works. An epic and scandalous satire concerning the life of the not-yet-canonised Joan of Arc ("the Maid of…

La Pucelle d'Orléans is a satirical poem by Voltaire, chronicling the life of Joan of Arc. It was controversial due to its irreverent and sexualized depiction of the iconic French heroine.

Locate the anonymized first French edition, likely without Voltaire's name, which may have been published in 1755 in Geneva or Amsterdam.