Our Notes & References

A very good example of this rare work in its original, uncensored form.

This small volume of sayings was taken from the first edition of the ‘Dictionnaire de L’Académie’ (1694). The work received a great deal of criticism at the time of its publication on account of its inclusion of several bawdy expressions that were considered extremely crude and subsequently removed. It includes charming truisms such as, ‘100 years of melancholy won’t pay one sou of our debts’ and ‘the big fish eat the little fish,’ alongside explanations and examples of usage.

The present work comes from the collection of the Scottish writer and Baronet William Stirling-Maxwell, whose family owned the Keir House estate from the XV to the XX century. Its other known previous owners are the former American military attaché to the UN and collector of proverbs Lieutenant Colonel Victor de Guinzbourg; the Dutch noble François Xavier de Borluut de Noortdonck; and the American actor Robert Easton.

According to Duplessis, it is a work of great rarity.

Bibliography

cf. Duplessis 29