2013, ISBN: 9780002570626

Amsterdam, By Antoni Schoonenburg en Zoon, 1742. 8vo. 6 volumes: (XVI),556; 520; 556; 568; 530; 556 p., frontispiece, & 48 engraved plates. Vellum 16 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 184635799) (Det… Mehr…

Amsterdam, By Antoni Schoonenburg en Zoon, 1742. 8vo. 6 volumes: (XVI),556; 520; 556; 568; 530; 556 p., frontispiece, & 48 engraved plates. Vellum 16 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 184635799) (Details: 5 thongs laced through the joints. Short title in ink on the back. Frontispiece engraved by J.C. Philips in volume one, with some scenes from the life of Cleopatra. 48 nice engraved plates) (Condition: Vellum age -toned and slightly soiled. Some wear to the back of the fourth volume) (Note: The French novelist and playwright Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède, 1609-1663, is the author of several long and heroic romances, Cassandre, (1642/1645); Cléopâtre (1646/57) and Faramond (1661). The titular heroine of his romance, Cleopatra, is not the famous Ptolemaic Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt, though she appears early on, but her daughter by the Roman triumvir Marc Antony, Cleopatra VIII (40 B.C.-6 A.D). (See for her Wikipedia, Cleopatra Selene II) 'The novel's principal characters converge on a safe house - Tyradates' palace in Alexandria, Egypt, or at the Roman governor's house there - where they or (more often) their servants tell their tales: (...) the romantic problems of royalty. There are three main narrative arcs: one involves Coriolanus, the future Juba II of Mauretania (...) who is a 15-year-old in Rome when he witnesses the 10-year-old Cleopatra paraded through the streets after the deaths of Antony and her mother, falls in love with her, endures the usual romantic rivalries and misunderstandings, while she endures kidnapping by pirates and other maidenly perils until Caesar Augustus allows them to marry. (...) A second narrative arc features Cesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra (VII), who at age 15 is sent to the court of the king of Ethiopia; he falls in love with the king's 10-year-old daughter Candace, who is later kidnapped by pirates, etc. etc. until they too are granted marriage by Augustus. And then there's the Roman Artaban, who likewise goes to the Ethiopian court; he wants Candy too, is banished for doing so, goes to Armenia and falls for the king's sister, strikes out again, then falls for the king of Parthia's daughter, and after the usual complications marries her and inherits her father's throne. There are a dozen subplots (one involving the poet Ovid) that dramatize minor variations on the problems of love, jealousy, divided loyalties, and other staples of romantic novels. The novel is (...) chaste (...), no sex before marriage (the author preserves Cleopatra VII's respectability by insisting she secretly married both Caesar and Antony) - and women are consistently portrayed as more moral and civilized than men. (...) This novel favors gallantry and romantic sentiments over battle scenes and violence (...). Like television soap operas, which are what La Calprenède's novels formally resemble, the multiple story arcs are not too difficult to follow, but they are too reliant on clichés and stereotypes to hold much appeal today'. La Calprenède displays in this admirable narrative control as he accurately fills in his enormous jigsaw puzzle, adding each new piece at an appropriate place and time'. (S. Moore, The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800, London etc., 2013, p. 201-213) La Calprenède does not follow Octavian's (Augustus) propaganda against Cleopatra VII, the mother of our heroine. He does not describe the queen as a monster ready to seduce Caesar and eager to conquer Rome. The story of her defeat became one of the cornerstones of the founding myth of the Roman Empire. In book 8 of Vergil's Aeneid queen Cleopatra is depicted as the shameless Egyptian consort. (sequiturque - nefas - Aegyptia coniunx, Aeneid 8,688) La Calprenède makes her a great queen, who prudently withstands the amorous fever of Julius Caesar, until holy, be it secret, matrimony. In the chapters devoted to the lovestory of the famous couple Cleopatra/Caesar, La Calprenède defends her against her enemies, who tried to tarnish her dignity. 'Maar doordien in het gene, dat haar in haar eerste jeugt met den groten Julius Cesar is gebeurt, hare vyanden haar achtbaarheit hebben willen besmetten, ben ik gewisse verbonden, als die van alle menschen de waarheit best bekent is, hare gedachtenis tegen die laster te verantwoorden'. (Cleopatra, volume 1, p. 116) La Calprenède's Cleopatra was translated into English, Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch. There are three Dutch editions, of 1661 and of 1689, and what is called the second revised edition of 1742) (Collation: 1: *8 (including the frontispiece), A-2L8, 2M6; 2: A-2I8, 2K4; 3: A-2L8, 2M6; 4: A-2M8, 2N4; 5: A-2K8, 2L1; 6: A-2L8, 2M6) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs), 2000-08-06. New. Ships with Tracking Number! INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE Shipping available. May be re-issue. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service!, 2000-08-06<

2000, ISBN: 0002570629

[EAN: 9780002570626], [PU: HarperCollins], Ausreichend/Acceptable: Exemplar mit vollständigem Text und sämtlichen Abbildungen oder Karten. Schmutztitel oder Vorsatz können fehlen. Einband… Mehr…

[EAN: 9780002570626], [PU: HarperCollins], Ausreichend/Acceptable: Exemplar mit vollständigem Text und sämtlichen Abbildungen oder Karten. Schmutztitel oder Vorsatz können fehlen. Einband bzw. Schutzumschlag weisen unter Umständen starke Gebrauchsspuren auf. / Describes a book or dust jacket that has the complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, dust jacket (if any), etc may also be worn., Books<

2000, ISBN: 9780002570626

Hardcover book. Published by HarperCollins Publishers Limited (2000) Media > Book, [PU: William Collins; HarperCollins]