[Manuscript]. [Curiosa, gaudriole, satire]. France, circa 17 - Lot 5

[Manuscript]. [Curiosa, gaudriole, satire]. France, circa 1730-1740. in-4, contemporary havana calf, 5-ribbed spine with mute, gilt edges (worn binding, flaws including damaged headbands, some loose quires at the very end of the volume, minor russeting and browning), Important and very amusing manuscript in French, comprising some 210 pieces in verse, ranging in length from a few lines to several pages: tales, sonnets, epigrams, songs, all of which are satirical, joyous and saucy in character. It consists of 311 numbered leaves, or 622 pages written in ink on laid paper, in the same hand and with great care. There is no (or no longer?) title page; the first endpaper has been cut off a third at the top. As is often the case, many of the plays feature monks and take place in convents, involving nuns and other ladies from all walks of life. Most titles leave no room for ambiguity: L'embrocheur; Epitre à un chanoine qui avoit perdu sa maîtresse; L'amant trompé; Dialogue entre un berge et une bergère; Jouissance : chanson nouvelle; Le cocuage : allégorie; Victorin confesseur; Le cadenas; La veuve voluptueuse... Only one piece is in Latin, 2 pages long, and entitled: "Formica sive origo sodomiae". Some of the pieces, which extend over several pages, allude to characters and situations of the time, notably: Histoire de la Messaline du temps par madame la présidente Fillon; Rousseau's satire on the widow Laurent's caffé (fol. 56 r° - 65 v°), with identification of several characters added in the margin; Nuit blanche by Sully for Madame de La Vrillière; Epitre à mademoiselle Duclos comédienne; Verses by M. l'abbé Regnier dislodged in 1712 from the Hôtel de Créqui; Ode by M. l'abbé de Chaulieu sur l'imagination; Noëls de la Place Royale (fol. 222 v° - 234 r°).