Rare Books

The Memoirs Of Casanova De Seingalt: Venetian Years, Paris and Prison, The Eternal Quest, Adventures in the South, In London and Moscow, Spanish Passions

MACHEN, Arthur [translated by]

Vol I Venetian Years
[729] pp

Vol II Paris and Prison
[714] pp.

Vol III The Eternal Quest
[650] pp.

Vol IV Adventures in the South
[656] pp.

Vol V In London and Moscow
[637] pp.

Vol VI Spanish Passions
[717] pp.

G.P. Putnam's Sons/ Elek Books

1959

8 1/2" x 6"

Fine/ Fine

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Histoire de ma vie (History of My Life) is both the memoir and autobiography of Giacomo Casanova, a famous 18th-century Italian adventurer. A previous, bowdlerized version was originally known in English as The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova (from the French Mémoires de Jacques Casanova) until the original version was published between 1960 and 1962. The unexpurgated English translation was published in 1971.

From 1838 to 1960, all the editions of the memoirs were derived from the censored editions produced in German and French in the early nineteenth century. Arthur Machen used one of these inaccurate versions for his English translation published in 1894 which remained the standard English edition for many years.

Although Casanova was Venetian (born 2 April 1725, in Venice, died 4 June 1798, in Dux, Bohemia, now Duchcov, Czech Republic), the book is written in French, which was the dominant language in the upper class at the time. The book covers Casanova's life only through 1774, although the full title of the book is Histoire de ma vie jusqu'à l'an 1797 (History of my Life until the year 1797).

On 18 February 2010, the National Library of France purchased the 3,700-page manuscript of Histoire de ma vie for approximately €7 million (£5,750,000). The manuscript is believed to have been given to Casanova's nephew, Carlo Angiolini, in 1798. The manuscript is believed to contain pages not previously read or published. Following this acquisition, a new edition of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, based on the manuscript, was published from 2013 to 2015.


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