About FDU Press

This volume is a companion piece to Lalande’s edited volume A Labor of Love: Critical Reflections on the Writings of Marie-Catherine Desjardins (Mme de Villedieu) (CH, Oct’00, 38-0827). Those not acquainted with the writings of Mme de Villedieu will appreciate Lalande’s introduction to the present volume, which provides biographical and bibliographical information on this 17th-century author, whom Lalande describes as “the only woman of her time to make a living by the pen” and “the most popular author or her time.” Following the introduction are translations of Villedieu’s Lettres et billets gallants (1668) and Le Portefeuille (1674). The former is a collection of her private love letters to Antoine de Villedieu, sold by him to a publisher. When Mme de Villedieu learned of this sale, she tried to stop the publication but to no avail, thus, according to Lalande, “transforming her testimonial of love into an object of economic barter and exchange.” The latter volume is a series of ten letters from the Count of Naumanoir to an anonymous friend that “recount the amorous misadventures and intrigues of a half-dozen Parisian socialites.” These works are difficult to obtain, so this volume is a welcome addition to the literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

C. E. Campbell, Cottey College
Choice, February 2006