The Adventures of Telemachus, The Son of Ulysses.- By the Archbishop of Cambray. In French and English. The Original Carefully Printed According to the Best Editions of France - Volume II

Printed for T. Longman; B. Law & Son; J. Johnson; F. and C. Rivington; W. Lowndes; Scatcherd and Whitaker; W. Goldsmith; J. Evans; F. Wingrave; and E. Newberry, London, 1793. First Thus. Hardcover (Full Leather). Poor Condition. The second volume (only) being books13-24 of this two-volume English translation of 'Les Aventures de Télémaque' (The Adventures of Telemachus) a didactic French novel by Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, who in 1689 became tutor to the seven-year-old Duc de Bourgogne (grandson of Louis XIV and second in line to the throne). It was published anonymously in 1699 and reissued in 1717 by his family. The slender plot fills out a gap in Homer's Odyssey, recounting the educational travels of Telemachus, son of Ulysses, accompanied by his tutor, Mentor, who is revealed at the end of the story to be Minerva, goddess of wisdom, in disguise. Although set in a far off place and ancient time, Télémaque was immediately recognized by contemporaries as a scathing rebuke to the autocratic reign of Louis XIV of France, whose wars and taxes on the peasantry had reduced the country to famine. Louis XIV, who had previously banished Fénelon from Versailles and confined him to his diocese because of a religious controversy, was so angered by the book that he maintained those restrictions on Fénelon's movements even when the religious dispute was resolved. Yet a few years later royal panegyrists were hailing the young king Louis XV as a new Telemachus and flattering his tutors as new "Mentors". An early parallel text edition with facing pages in French & English. Size: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. 184 pages. One volume of the 2-volume set. Text is in English & French. apart from a spot or two in the early pages the text block in clean & unmarked but there is writing & a drawing inside both covers. Some wear to top & bottom of spine. no Dust Jacket as published.. Gilt titles & volume number on red labels to spine along with gilt decoration but all rather worn. wear to all edges & corners with front cover detached but re-glued. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 250 grams. Category: Literature & Literary; Classic; French Novel; French Literature; France; English & French Language; Fiction. Inventory No: 3844. .