The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova.

Item Number: 23039

Limited edition privately printed. Finely bound set of the The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova. Octavo, three quarters morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, top edge gilt. In near fine condition. One of 750 numbered sets. An attractive set.

"This supreme book of adventures is a real man's record of his real life… It is one of the great autobiographical revelations which the ages have left us, with Augustine's, Cellini's, Rousseau's— of its own kind supreme" (Havelock Ellis). As was not uncommon at the time, Casanova, depending on circumstances, used more or less fictitious names, such as baron or count of Farussi (the name of his mother) or Chevalier de Seingalt (pronounced Saint-Galle, as in French). He often signed his works Jacques Casanova de Seingalt after he began writing in French following his second exile from Venice. He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with. He associated with European royalty, popes and cardinals, along with luminaries such as Voltaire, Goethe, and Mozart. He spent his last years in Bohemia as a librarian in Count Waldstein's household, where he also wrote the story of his life.