79/2570 Bibiena, J.G. de. La poupée. London (= Paris?), n.publ., 1782, (4),218p., contemp. gilt calf w. mor. letterpiece, a.e.g., 12mo.

- Pencil annot. on verso first free endpaper. Extremities sl. worn; spine-ends sl. dam. Otherwise fine.

= Rare. Orig. published in 1744, this Pygmalion-like satire tells the (soft erotic) story of the abbé Philandre and a doll: "Having failed to seduce any society women, Philandre is about to rent a shopgirl's hourly affections when he is transfixed and aroused by a beautiful eight-inch doll in her shop - the form the sylphid Zamire assumed to attract his attention. It's love at first sight, especially when he dishevels her clothes and notices she's anatomically correct. After he gets her home, the doll comes to life and, seating herself on a copy of Duclos's Confessions, explains that sylphs attain immortality only after they fall in love with a human and - more importantly - cure him of his 'faults and follies.'" (Moore, The Novel: An Alternative History, p.346).