MANCINI-MAZARINI (Louis-Jules, Duc de Nivernais). - Lot 263

MANCINI-MAZARINI (Louis-Jules, Duc de Nivernais). Complete works in 10 volumes. in-8, handsomely bound in full calf, richly decorated with a gilt frame on both covers, smooth spine with stamped gilt decoration, title-pieces, tomaison followed on all 10 volumes, marbled edges. Fables de Mancini-Nivernois à Paris, à l'imprimerie Didot Jeune en 1796, two volumes of I: frontispice, XVI, 226 pages and II: X, 227 pages. First edition of the fables. Mélanges de littérature en vers et en prose, printed by Didot Jeune in 1796, four volumes of : III: frontispiece, 367 pages, IV: 399 pages; V: 383 pages; VI: IV, 387 pages Richardet, Italian poem by Carte Romaco translated into French verse, printed by Didot Jeune in 1796, two volumes of VII: VIII, 453 pages and VIII: 423 pages. Oeuvres posthumes du Duc de Nivernois, published following his eulogy by N. François De Neufchâteau in Paris, by Maradan in 1807, two volumes of IX: X and VII (1), 276 pages then 176 pages and X: 250 pages and 261 pages and XVIII. Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais (1716-1798), was elected to the Académie française in 1742 and was also a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Mancini-Mazarin's literary output was extremely varied, ranging from light-hearted poetry and salon comedies to serious, erudite essays and reviews. Alongside these literary and academic accolades, the Duc was appointed ambassador to Rome in 1748, Berlin in 1756 and London in 1762, where he took part in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years' War. The success of his embassies led to his appointment as Minister of State to Louis XVI in 1787, a position he still held in 1789. With the abolition of noble titles by the revolutionaries, which deprived him of a considerable part of his income, Mancini-Mazarini turned frantically to writing, penning translations, elegiac poems and, above all, fables. Imprisoned under the Terror at the Carmes prison, he escaped the guillotine. This allowed him to publish his works in 1796, before his death two years later. A very fine set, elegantly bound, with a fresh interior, which clearly illustrates the scope of the Duc de Nivernais' work.