Les docteurs modernes: comédie-parade en un acte et en vaudevilles; suivie du Baquet de santé: divertissement analogue mêlé de couplets;
Paris: Chez Brunet, 1785. Third Edition. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Pp. 65. Later brick-red quarter cloth-bound over marbled boards, without titles. Edges untrimmed and moderately chipped. First and last leaves chipped, soiled and rubbed, with tears repaired. Moderate foxing to original leaves, age tone transfer to later endpapers. Bookplate "Librairie du Magnétisme." Ink manuscript at head of title page "Par MM Barré et Radet." A few light pencil marks in margins. Good. Item #5670
Satire of the fad for cures by magnétisme animal or Mesmerism, sending up both greedy charlatan and gullible patient, set in verses sung to popular tunes. The authors were not credited in print as vested interests had been provoked: one of Mesmer's early disciples, the enterprising lawyer Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil, printed a rebuttal of the play after distributing Mesmer tracts at the first performance. The brouhaha surrounding Mesmer peaked in 1784-85, warranting this third and subsequent editions. Prolific poet and songwriter Barré went on to found the Théâtre du Vaudeville in 1792.
Scarce on the market.
Price: $275.00