Duras marguerite

1824 · 436626 — Paris: Chez Ladvocat 1824. Hardcover. Near Fine. Second edition. 12mo. 172pp. Contemporary full vellum spine decorated in gilt with morocco label titled in gilt. Contemporary owner name "Sophia Lipton" boards slightly bowed and a little soiled modest foxing a handsome near fine copy. An important novel written anonymously by a White Frenchwoman. Based on the true story of a Senegalese girl freed from slavery and raised by an aristocratic French family unaware of her race until she overhears a conversation that makes her conscious of it and after which point she lives her life as a Black woman. The novel was a bestseller when published and was the basis for four contemporary stage productions. Ourika represents a number of important firsts: the first Black heroine in a novel set in Europe the first French literary work narrated by a Black female protagonist and according to John Fowles: "the first serious attempt by a white novelist to enter a black mind." It was also the inspiration for Fowles' novel The French Lieutenant's Woman. A lovely copy of a fragile and important book. Chez Ladvocat hardcover