Ignore at your peril these "Crumbs of Science," "Empty and Puerile Curiosities," and "Chatter"

[Anonymous]

[Sammelband of 5 works of "ANA"]. Angotiana. BOUND WITH: Facetiana. BOUND WITH: Rousseliana. BOUND WITH: Carnavaliana et Caremiana. BOUND WITH: Paysaniana

Paris: Barba, Delaunay, Cavanagh, Les Marchands de Nouveautes, & Tiger, 1803. Hardcover. Dates: 1803-1824. 16mo., together 5 works in one volume: 144 pp + 179 pp + 160 pp +122 pp + 108 pp., each work accompanied by an engraved frontispiece of which 2 are hand-colored (some fraying along outer edges). Bound in contemporary French half basane over marbled boards, a little worn but suitable for exhibition and study. Very good. Item #1261

Highly curious Sammelband of five "Ana," an important genre of late-18th and early 19th century French literature, today little known and under-appreciated by academics. At that time, EVERYONE read Ana, even the critics who excoriated these fugitive pieces of literary ephemera while secretly delighting in their unabashed "bad taste." Concerning Ana, Mornet correctly states: "One misunderstands the history of French thought in the 18th-century if one confines it to the history of strictly literary genres [...] In the provinces especially, far from the theater, the opera, and the fashionable salons, when one ceases to be ignorant and indifferent." Mornet judges that the genre of Ana is particularly responsible for assembling useless fragments of knowledge without a greater plan. He qualifies Ana as "crumbs of science," "empty and puerile curiosities," "and chatter." Modern academics ignore Ana at their peril. Once ubiquitous, many of them are now very scarce as they were read and reread by audiences all over French and soon discarded. Ana serve to inform us about French language and culture (high and low) in the broadest possible way. A very balanced account of the history and significance of Ana is given by Jennifer Tsein, The Bad Taste of Others: Judging Literary Value in Eighteenth-Century France (2012) pp. 173-174, with references to Daniel Mornet's Histoire De La Clarte Francaise (1929).

¶ CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION: 1). Angotiana ou suite de calembours comme s'il en pleuvait. Contenant les amours du Per-Vertisseur et l'histoire du fameux Lagalisse, sa naissance, sa vie, sa mort en 50 couplets. Avec le portrait de Corsse dans madame Angot. Septième édition. Paris, 1803. 2). [Armand Raguenau de la Chaînaye]. Facetiana, précédé de l'origine de Mlle d'Alambic, épouse d'Esprit-Pointu, et orné de son portrait en taille d'ours. Avec les bons mots de Marianne, par Anagrame Dauneur (sic). Paris, 1817. 3). Rousseliana, ou recueil de tous les bons mots, vers, calembourgs, lazzis et facéties des Cadet-Roussel, où l'on a réuni toutes les additions de Monsieur Brunet, qui ne se trouvent pas dans les pièces imprimées. Avec sa permission et la tragédie de Matapan, ou les assassinats de l'amour. Par Anagrame Dauneur. Paris, n.d. 4). Carnavaliana et Caremiana , ou Variétés sur le carême et le carnaval, bons mais, anecdotes plaisantes, chansons, etc‘. A Baochopolis. Paris, n.d. (ca. 1811) "Ce n’est pas un chef-d'oeuvre" (!) according to Adrien-Jean-Quentin Beuchot, Répertoire de bibliographies spéciales, curieuses et instructives (Paris, 1811) where he describes the work as appearing "only a few days ago" (p. 7). 5. Paysaniana, ou Recueil d'anecdotes, bons mots, plaisanteries, sarcasmes, réparties ingénieuses, traits de naïveté, de finesse, d'ingénuité et de malice des paysans, entremêlé de chansons villageoises, et terminé par l'oraison funèbre d'un paysan; par un Campagnard. Paris, n.d.

¶ REFERENCES: Aude, Bibliographie des Ana) pp. 7, 40, 92, 25 et 80.

Price: $750.00