Heading:
Author: Staël-Holstein, Anne Louise Germaine de
Title: De l'Influence des Passions sur le Bonheur des Individus et des Nations
Place Published: Lausanne
Publisher:Jean Mourer, et Hignou et Comp
Date Published: 1796
Description:

376, [2] pp. Text in French (8vo) period tree calf, spine elaborately gilt in compartments, red morocco spine label gilt, board edges and panels gilt-ruled, all edges marbled, marbled endpapers, attached pink silk bookmark. First Edition.

First edition of this work of moral philosophy by celebrated saloniste and woman of letters Germaine de Staël, whose life and activities straddled the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. Second state, as is usual, with all cancels bearing Staël's pre-publication edits. With errata leaf bound in rear. Will illustrated bookplate to front pastedown.

Despite her sympathies for Republicanism and the Revolution, Staël's court connections prompted her to flee the Terror for her family's Swiss estate. The upheavals of the day affected her deeply, and De l'Influence des Passions - in which she investigates the relationship between reason and the emotions - reflects Staël's efforts to examine her impressions systematically, with the goal of identifying a path toward individual and political renewal. Though she never completed the second part, treating the influence of the passions upon nations, the work was a bestseller, and played a key role in the development of Romantic sensibility.

Faint vertical crease to spine leather, small chip to spine head, minor edgewear; light toning to text, mostly to second half; a near fine copy in period binding.