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[DEFOE, Daniel.]. MINUTES OF THE NEGOTIATIONS OF MONSR. MESNAGER AT THE COURT OF ENGLAND, towards the close of the last reign. Wherein some of the most secret transactions of that time, relating to the interest of the Pretender, and a clandestine separate peace, are detected and laid open. Written by himself. Done out of the French.. London printed for S. Baker at the Black-Boy and Anchor in Pater-noster-row, 1717.

Price: US$325.04 + shipping

Description: 8vo, pp. 326; quite foxed throughout, but otherwise a sound copy; in contemporary mottled calf, rebacked. First edition. Although anonymously published, and indeed specifically disclaimed by Defoe, there is little reason to doubt that this book is his work. It purports to be the memoirs of Nicolas Mesnager (1658-1714), the French envoy to London during the peace negotiations of 1711, and subsequently plenipotentiary at the Utrecht conference. There are errors - such as a reference to Louis XIV as 'the late King', even though Mesnager predeceased his master - which prove the memoirs to be fictitious, and contemporaries were quick to suggest Defoe as the real author. There was a second edition in 1736 (a close reprint, but not a reissue), but otherwise no other early editions. Furbank & Owens 194; Moore 377. The catchword on p. 51 in this copy is 'done' (sometimes it is 'acted'), indicating a cancel.

Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, OXON, United Kingdom