LA FAYETTE (Gilbert Du Motier de). Memoirs, correspondence a - Lot 40

LA FAYETTE (Gilbert Du Motier de). Memoirs, correspondence and manuscripts. Paris, H. Fournier aîné, London, Saunders & Otley, 1837 (vol. I-III); Paris, H. Fournier aîné, in Leipzig, Brockhaus & Avenarius, 1838 (vol. IV-VI). 6 volumes in-8, (4 of which last white)-viii-495-(one white) + (4 of which last white)-504 + (4 of which last white)-520 + (4 of which last white)-ii-448-(2 of which second white) + (4 of which last white)-544-(2 of which second white) + (4 of which last white)-814 pp., ornate fawn half-basane, speckled edges; spines worn with one volume's cap damaged, a few occasionally heavy freckles, a press clipping stuck to the first volume's flyleaf (period binding). ORIGINAL EDITION, drawn up by the future deputy Francisque Tircuy de Corcelle (a close friend of La Fayette, whose granddaughter he married), based on documents supplied by the marquis's son, Georges-Washington Du Motier de La Fayette. Complete with the lithographed map of Virginia, here bound at the head of volume IV. A MAJOR COLLECTION SHEDDING LIGHT ON A LIFE CLOSELY INTERWOVEN WITH THE GREAT EVENTS OF HIS TIME. It includes fragments of personal memoirs and selected correspondence on his role during the War of Independence, the Revolution, the Restoration and the July Monarchy, with an important passage on his last trip to the United States. Epistolary exchanges with the main protagonists of the American War of Independence are continued here long after the signing of the Peace of Paris (1783). AUTOGRAPHIC EX-DONO SIGNED BY GEORGES WASHINGTON DE LA FAYETTE, SON OF THE MARQUIS, addressed to Dr. Guersant, dated Paris May 19, 1837 (on paper bound opposite the title of the first volume). PERSONAL DOCTOR TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE IN PARIS, LOUIS-BENOIT GUERSANT (1877-1848), was a member of the Académie de Médecine. Specializing in childhood pathologies, under the July monarchy he was appointed "médecin des Enfants de France", consulting physician to Louis-Philippe I, and his reputation won him a clientele of eminent personalities including the Duc de Mortemart, the Baron d'Haussez and, of course, the Marquis de La Fayette.