SADE (Donatien-Alphonse François de). Aline et Valcour, or the Philosophical Novel. Written in the Bastille a year before the French Revolution. Orné de Seize Gravures. Paris : veuve Girouard, 1795. - 8 parts in 8 volumes, in-18, 131 x 77: frontispiece, xjv, 150 pp, 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), pp. (151)-315, 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), 234, 2 pp, 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), pp. (261)-503, 2 pp, 1 plate; frontispiece, 267 pp. 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), pp. (269)-573 misquoted 575, 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), 204 pp. 1 plate; frontispiece, (2 ff.), pp. (205)-374. Marbled havana basane, smooth spine decorated, red edges, modern slipcase (contemporary binding). First edition of this novel by letters, written by the Marquis de Sade during his imprisonment in the Bastille between 1785 and 1788, telling two separate stories linked only by the relationship of the characters. Some consider this to be one of the finest works of eighteenth-century literature, in which the author, despite some daring situations, uses a consistently "moral" style. A copy of the C issue, with the mention of "Seize gravures" on the title. "There are theoretically three editions, but they come from the same print run, begun in 1791, interrupted in 1794 by the legal murder of Girouard, resumed and completed in 1795. These three editions - or rather, pseudo-editions, to be the mixture of sheets printed over the course of four years - differ from one another only in the content of the title pages and in the number of etchings, which increase from fourteen in editions A and B to sixteen in edition C" (Lély. Vie du marquis de Sade. Paris, 1989, p. 589). A choice copy, bound at the time in 8 volumes, with the titles of each part homogeneous, announcing the sixteen illustrations. It includes 15 of the 16 plates required; as is almost always the case, the very rare erotic engraving in the fifth part is missing. It is also complete with the two errata leaves to volumes 3 and 4. Bindings very well preserved despite a slight loss at the head of volumes 6 and 8. Scattered foxing, a few spots not serious. Several leaves browned as usual. Volume 1: angular restoration to leaf E3. Volume 4: tear at the bottom of folio Ff6, due to a paper defect, without affecting the text. Volume 5: angular tear with missing leaf G6 with damage to the fillets surrounding the running title. Volume 6: folds to the last leaf.