Memoirs of Antonina, Queen of Abo. Displaying her Private Intrigues, and Uncommon Passions. With Family Sketches, and curious Anecdotes of Great Persons. Translated from the French. Two volumes in One.

[GOUPIL, P.E.A. or J.P. BRISSOT, sometime attributed authors].

Published by [London: Printed for E. Bently, No. 22, Fetter Lane, 1791.]

78, [2], 83, [1]pp., 12mo. Engraved portrait of the Queen as frontispiece; title leaf with the lower section torn away to remove the publisher s imprint (surely an act of discretion after the Queen s guillotining in 1793 made her a martyr), a couple of minor marginal tears and stains. Attractively bound in slightly later blind-panelled calf, spine gilt; joints slightly rubbed. First edition in English, a vicious and explicit fictionalization of the short life of Marie Antoinette, published in French in 1789 as Essai historique sur la vie de Marie Antoinette and variously attributed to P. E. A. Goupil and to J. P. Brissot. Thus: She soon became tired of the impotent caresses of her husband, and, as much from natural inclination, as for the purpose of deception, gave way to the licentious and impassioned caresses of her women. . . But Antonina s desire to produce a royal heir prevails, and she considers a number of possibilities. Only the King himself remains ignorant of her lovers, and after the heir is produced she returns to them, both female and male. One assignation with an eighteen year-old boy takes place at a private recess, voluptuously prepared. . . . She there gave full scope to her desires, instructed her young hero in all the arts of sensuality, and received the first fruits of his manhood, as the reward of her care. His extreme eagerness, notwithstanding the efforts of Antonina to direct his attacks, caused her a momentary disappointment. . . occasioned too precipatately that tribute which the most avaricious lover cannot refuse when he suffers himself to be overcome by the soft impulse of desire. Instead, however, of quenching the fire, it only served to augment the flame. . . at length even her desires were fully satisfied. The second volume of the work is narrated by the Queen herself, with equal attention to what she calls "the different trips I had taken to Cythera" and, latterly, "my continual dissipation and excessive prodigality." Her last lines are O! ye inhabitants of Abo, you are destined to be fed with words instead of bread - or if bread ye have, it will prove to you the bread of sorrow. Raven and Garside, The English Novel, 1791:40, quoting manuscript notes in the British Library copy (which was formerly in the "Private Case") as attributing the translation to "John Gifford," i.e. John Richards Green, and describing the work as a "coarse, false, and infamous libel" with a "share in producing the events which terminated in the murder of Louis 16 and the Queen." Kearney, Private Case Supplement, 591. ESTC records four locations: British Library, National Library of Ireland, Alexander Turnbull, and Harvard, to which OCLC adds New York Public. Seller Inventory # 12392

Bibliographic Details

Title: Memoirs of Antonina, Queen of Abo. ...
Publisher: [London: Printed for E. Bently, No. 22, Fetter Lane, 1791.]
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition