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CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, JACQUES; SCHÜTZ, WILHELM VON Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de SeingaltThe Extremely Scarce True First Edition of "One of the Great Books of the World" "Details of an Almost Inimitable Life' CASANOVA DE SEINGALT, J[acques]. Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt, oder sein Leben, wie er es zu Dux in Böhmen niederschrieb. Nach dem Original-Manuscript bearbeitet von Wilhelm von Schütz. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1822-1828. The extremely scarce true first edition of Casanova’s Memoirs, preceding both the first pirated French edition (1825-1829) and the first Brockhaus French edition (1826-1838). Twelve small octavo volumes (6 1/16 x 4 1/16 inches; 154 x 103 mm.). vi, xxviii, 510 (pp. 353-368 incorrectly numbered 343-358); xxiv, 458, [2, publisher’s advertisements]; vi, xlii, 455, [1, blank]; xviii, 549, [1, errata]; vi, 522, [1, errata], [1, blank]; vi, 536; vi, 507, [1, blank]; vi, 548; vi, 513, [1, blank]; vi, 546; vi, 546; vi, 537, [1, blank] pp. Contemporary half sheep over marbled boards. Smooth spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Minor rubbing to extremities, spine of Volume X cracked. Minimal foxing and browning, a few small stains. Clean tear (2 3/8 inch) to leaf 7/4 (pp. 103/104) in Volume II, a few minor marginal paper flaws. Bookplate of Dr. Kurt und Gerty Ulrich on front pastedown of each volume. A wonderful set. While OCLC/KVK report twenty-four copies of this, the true first edition, in libraries worldwide, it is extremely scarce in the marketplace with no copies coming to auction within the last thirty-five years. 'This is the veritable first edition of the Memoirs, which was a translation from the French into German. The first five volumes were the work of Schütz and the first four contain valuable prefaces by him. The name of Schütz disappears from the title page of the sixth and succeeding volumes. Brockhaus has never disclosed the name of the translator of the last seven volumes. The first volume was ready in 1821 but bears the date, 1822, as does the second. The third and fourth volumes are dated 1823; the fifth, 1824; the sixth and seventh, 1825, the eighth and ninth, 1826; the tenth, 1827; and the final two, 1828. The expurgation of the text by Schütz went considerably farther than that by his successor, although both translators omitted text which Laforgue [the editor of the French edition published by Brockhaus, 1826-1838] retained. On the other hand, some of the text which Laforgue omitted has been preserved in the German translation and the edition is very valuable on that account' (J. Rives Childs, Casanoviana. Emphasis ours). 'There can be little disputing the fact that the Memoirs of Casanova is one of the great books of the world. It offers, as no other work, an incomparable picture of the eighteenth century. The author traveled almost everywhere in the Europe of his day...His account of life in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Moscow, Petersburg, Warsaw, and Geneva is hardly equaled in the literature of the times. Casanova did not confine his acquaintances to kings and nobles: not the least interesting feature of his Memoirs is his description of the rakes and charlatans...whom he encountered in every corner of Europe. He rubbed shoulders in easy camaraderie with nuns and prelates, no less than with gamblers and prostitutes, and he has spared us no details of an almost inimitable life' (J. Rives Childs, 'A Clue to the Mystery of Casanova’s Memoirs,' p. 287. Emphasis ours). 'In 1821 the great German publishing firm of Brockhaus in Leipzig was approached by a nephew of Casanova, following the latter’s death in 1798, with an offer of the manuscript text of the Memoirs. The transaction was concluded after Brockhaus had examined the text and had obtained the advice of a number of scholars attesting to its exceptional interest and value...A pirated edition [was] published by Tournachon-Molin, in Paris, 1825-1829, in fourteen volumes. Strictly speaking, it is the first French edition...[but] The first French edition, the pirated one of Tournachon-Molin, is curiously enough a French translation from the Schutz German translation of the original French text of Casanova...' (J. Rives Childs, 'A Clue to the Mystery of Casanova’s Memoirs,' in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Volume 46 (1952), pp. 288-290. Emphasis ours). "In the eighteenth century [in these memoirs], Casanova described the use of a lemon half as a cervical cap and also wrote about condoms made from animal intestines. Such condoms, however, were expensive and had to be washed for reuse" (Orshan, Susan. Maternity, Newborn, and Women's Health Nursing, p. 277). J. Rives Childs, Casanoviana, pp. 128-130, no. 2.
Offered for US$ 25000.00 by: David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB) - Book number: 00658