Il Codice Delle Donne, 2 Vols, Parma, 1839

A Rare "Novelized" Bourbon Restoration-Era Legal Guide for Women in a Very Rare Italian Translation Guichard, Aug[ustin]-Ch[arles] [1760-1847]. Rossi, Francesco [fl. 1837-1847], Translator, Annotator. Il Codice Delle Donne. Parma: Dalla Tipografia Ducale, 1839. Two volumes. 311; 287 pp. 16mo. (5-3/4" x 3-3/4"; 14.6 x 9.5 cm). Original pink publisher printed wrappers, untrimmed edges. Negligible light soiling and faint staining to exterior. Light toning to interior, smudges to lower margins of a few leaves, final 8 leaves of signature 6 of Volume II (pp. 201-216) bound out of order. A very good, and very rare, set. $850. * Only Italian edition located, a translation of the second and final French edition. The playful style of this interesting guide to the laws relating to women after the Bourbon Restoration imitates a contemporary French novel, a device praised by a review of the 1823 first edition in the Journal des Debats. This was probably a ploy to attract a female audience; the subtitle boasts that the work's "simple reading" comprehensively educates women to manage their own affairs "in a few hours and without any fatigue." This was changed from the first edition, which was less explicit about the work's audience and style and did not directly attribute the work to Guichard. The second edition also includes a special author's preface in addition to other enhancements, among them a detailed table reflecting its transition from a light literary novelty to a serious reference tool for the private woman of means. Rossi, a law professor at the University of Parma, produced his edition for the female citizens of the Duchy of Parma, a north-Italian state that was part of the Napoleonic Empire and, as a result, had a legal system based on the Code Napoleon. Rossi's introduction and notes discuss and show where Parma's laws diverge from their French basis. It remains a primary source for understanding the intersection of law, literature, and the social agency of Parmense women during the early 19th-century. This Italian edition is very rare. OCLC locates 1 copy (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan). Italy's OPAC SBN adds 4 more (Biblioteca Teologica Citta di Reggio, Biblioteca Comunale Manfrediana, Faenza, Biblioteca Comunale Passerini-Landi, Piacenza, University of Cagliari).…