MARIVAUX. - Lot 23

MARIVAUX. L’Isle des esclaves, a one-act comedy. Paris: Noël Pissot, Pierre Delormel, François Flahaut, 1725. — In-12, 161 x 95: 67 pp., (2 ff.). Unbound, mounted in an old marbled paper cover. Tchémerzine, IV, p. 405 A rare first edition of this prose comedy, first performed by the King’s Italian actors on March 5, 1725. It is one of the earliest plays to address slavery and social injustices with humor. It tells the story of two couples—a nobleman and his slave (Iphicrate and Arlequin), and a noblewoman and her maid (Euphrosine and Cléanthis)—who are shipwrecked on an island where roles are reversed: the masters become slaves, and the slaves, masters. The experiment, orchestrated by Trivelin (the island’s governor), aims to make them understand the absurdity of oppression. After clumsy attempts at domination, the former slaves choose forgiveness over revenge. The play concludes with a moral lesson: “The difference in circumstances is merely a trial.” Unbound copy, set in an antique marbled paper cover. Upper corner of the title page is discolored. Provenance: Modern bookplate bearing the initials JA.