Beaumarchais

1785 · 6595 — Deffau and Leipzig: G.eorg J.oachim Gˆschen 1785. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo 195 x 107mm. 140pp. Translated by Josef Kainz. Full-page engraved frontispiece depicting scene from the Marriage of Figaro. Text in Old German type. Later paper boards; lightly browned somewhat worn. The French comedy Le Mariage de Figaro 1778 is a play in five acts by Beaumarchais set in the period before the French Revolution. Beaumarchais in rank with dramatists like Moliere wrote stage characters of such a sharp political quality that he often provoked numerous scandals and bans on his work. A censorship on the performances set for 1784 and 1785 in Paris and Vienna respectively prompted several revised issues of the play to be published. This 1785 copy dating from these controversial years is from the well-known Gˆschen press in Leipzig. Georg Joachim Gˆschen 1752-1828 was known to be a man of striking originality irrepressible energy and great intellectual power. His publishing firm quickly rose to prominence in Leipzig where he befriended many famed writers from the Golden Age of German Literature and famously published the first collection of Goetheís writings. <br/><br/> G.[eorg] J.[oachim] Gˆschen hardcover books