RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme). La Découverte Australe - Lot 36

RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE (Nicolas-Edme). La Découverte Australe, par un Homme-volant, ou le Dédale français ; Nouvelle très philosophique ; suivie de la Lettre d'un Singe... Printed in Leïpsick and found in Paris, s.d. [1781]. 4 volumes in-12, red half-maroq. with corners, spines decorated with 5 double faux-nerfs, gilded bands and motifs, entirely untrimmed (Antiquarian binding). ORIGINAL EDITION, very rare. ISSUE OF THE FIRST EDITION with 23 unsigned hors-texte figures, after Binet, including one on a double page, in the first edition, WELL COMPLETED WITH THE 5 DIATRIBES that followed, the one entitled L'homme de nuit , which Restif had to delete or change because of censorship, and the false-title of the first volume, which is often missing. It all begins with a classic tale of thwarted love: Victorin, the hero, is in love with Christine, the daughter of his Lord, whom he kidnaps using a flying machine to transport her to "Mount Inaccessible", the first step in the creation of a new society. The flying machine gives him the power to free himself from gravity, and the story shifts to a fantastic dimension when he travels to the southern universe. There, a utopian society is founded, made up of hybrids and animal-men, imagining a series of intermediaries between man and animal: Patagons (giant men), bear-men, dog-men, pig-men... Rétif blurs the boundaries, resonating different universes between the visible and the invisible, reality and fiction, just as he literarily combines fantasy, science fiction and the voyage of discovery. The novel is contemporary with the travel narratives so numerous in the 18th century, notably those of Cook, Bougainville and La Pérouse, and raises the philosophical question of a utopia that takes the form of happiness imposed on all, a drift questioned by several writers at the beginning of the 20th century. "This work, one of the most singular that Restif wrote, is much sought-after, not only by Restifians but also by collectors of books on utopias and aeronautics. It's truly remarkable that Restif researched a way to travel through the air three years before the Montgolfier brothers' discovery; it's even more remarkable that Restif planned a vehicle that could run without horses. In the interest of peace, he proposed an association of European nations" (Rive-Childs). VERY PRETTY EXAMPLE, ENTIRELY UNRUGGED, IN A BEAUTIFUL LATE XVIIIth CENTURY BINDING. EXTREMELY RARE IN SUCH FINE CONDITION.