Maggs Bros Ltd. Rare Books, Manuscripts, Autographs and first editions.

Engraved frontispiece, folding map and 10 engraved plates. 8vo.. LIX, 535pp. ]13]ff. Contemporary calf, gilt spine, (a little worn).

Les Aventures de Télémaque has been described as the first prose poem in French. It reveals the author's love of the Greek and Latin classics as well as his colourful imagination. Fénelon (1651-1715), Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695, wrote Télémaque in 1699 for the Duc de Bourgogne, a refractory pupil whom he successfully reformed. However, the work was found to contain passages which reflected badly on the government of Louis XIV. Fénelon subsequently fell into disgrace and was deprived of his preceptorate.

FENELON, François de Salignac de la Stock Code: CO18896