La Chercheuse d'Esprit, Opera comique by FAVART, Charles Simon

1 p.l., 59 pp., 4 pages of engraved music printing. 8vo, cont. dark red morocco (minor foxing), a.e.g. Paris: la Veuve Allouel, 1741. First edition; this is, according to Grove, one of the two best early comic operas by Favart (1710-92), the most prominent member of a French family of dramatists, singers, and actors active in musical theater. Favart was a librettist, playwright, and impresario. This copy was presented to the Académie Française and bears the following inscription on a free front-endpaper: "Pigansé de la part de l'auteur a l'Academie le Lundi huitième May 1741." On the following three pages is a 34-line manuscript poem entitled "A Messieurs de l'Académie françoise [sic]" which wittily describes the journey of Favart and the advice given to him by a prose writer, a poet, and a wise author. Fine copy. ❧ New Grove, Vol. 6, pp. 438-39.