Classic Fantasy, Scarce in Jacket
The Devil in Love
Publication: London: William Heinemann, 1925. First Thus.
Notes: A new edition of an eighteenth century translation of Le diable amoureux, an early fantasy novel that is being reread today for its ambiguous sexuality. In the novel, the devil falls in love with a young Spanish nobleman and tries to seduce him in the form of a beautiful woman. The Spaniard finds the woman charming but also knows she is a demon who also appears, depending on the circumstances, in male form as well.
The book was first published in France in 1772 and was first translated into English in 1793. This edition, with illustrations by J. E. Laboureur made for a 1921 Paris edition, was limited to 395 copies.
Edition + Condition: A near fine copy in a good dust jacket splitting at the spine edges (with small areas strengthened with Japanese tissue) and chipping at the corners. The jacket is largely intact and the book is seldom found thus. This is copy 255.
This is likely the first English translation of this classic fantasy novel to be issued in a dust jacket.
Item No: #366072
Price: $400