ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques.

The Confessions of J.J. Rousseau.

“I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different": The Nonesuch Press Edition of the Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

London: The Nonesuch Press, 1938.

$600.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-148546

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The Nonesuch Press limited edition of Rousseau's autobiographical masterpiece. Octavo, two volumes, bound in full morocco with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, top edge gilt, ornamented with wood engravings, printed on pannekoek mould-made paper. One of 800 numbered copies, this is number 73. In near fine condition, bookplate to the front pastedown of Robert Furneaux Jordan. Introduction by Havelock Ellis. Wood engravings by Reynolds Stone.

First published in 1782, four years after Rousseau's death, his Confessions is notable as one of the first major autobiographies. Prior to the Confessions, the two great autobiographies were Augustine's own Confessions and Saint Teresa's Life of Herself. Providing an account of the experiences that shaped Rousseau's personality and ideas, the work was also noted for its detailed account of Rousseau's more humiliating and shameful moments. Founded in 1922 in London by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel, and their mutual friend David Garnett, The Nonesuch Press was established in the basement of Garnett's bookshop in Soho. Nonesuch was unusual among private presses in that it used a small hand press to design books and then had them printed by commercial printers. Among the press's best-known editions were the collected works of William Congreve and William Wycherley and translations of Cervantes and Dante.