MORENCY Suzanne Giroust, known as Mme de. Illyrine, ou l'Écueil de l'inexpérience. Paris, l'Auteur, 1799; 3 vol. in-8 of viii-335 pp. ; 560 pp. ; 397 pp. in late 19th century light blue half-percaline binding, burgundy parts, untrimmed. Very uncommon first edition. Portrait-frontispiece drawn and engraved by Canu. A singular work by a woman with a strong personality, offering a barely romanticised version of her love affairs during the Revolution. It includes vivid and satirical portraits of her lovers: Hérault de Séchelles, General Biron, Dumouriez, Fabre d'Eglantine, etc. Unhappily married, she sent an impassioned plea for divorce to the National Assembly; her letter is said to have led to the law authorising divorce (1792). "The heroine is an emancipated, independent woman who flaunts her conquests and talks happily of her ardent sensuality and her pleasures. She feels no remorse; for her, virtue is pure social convention. (Huguette Krief, Vivre libre et écrire: anthologie des romancières de la période 1789-1800). A good copy. The portrait has been rebacked; trace of wetness at the end of volume II. Gay, II, 637 - Monglond, IV, 1128.