i + 21 + ii

Contemporary quarter-bound in blue paper over paperboard with brown leather spine; gilded decoration and title on spine, "M. POUR L AMB. DE MALTHE"; 18th-century paper pastedowns; sale price in modern pencil in upper right flyleaf recto, "1550 livres"; inventory number in modern pencil in lower right flyleaf, "15436"

Bonnefoi Livres Anciens, Catalog 185, #35. Purchased by the Malta Study Center, December, 2018

Memoire of Frá Jean Jean-Jacques de Mesmes (1675-1741) against the dancer, Mademoiselle Françoise Prévost (1680-1741). Originally published in 1726, the memoire, written in the third person, was intended to shame Frá Jean Jacques de Mesmes' lover, Mademoiselle Françoise Prévost, for serially cheating on him with another young man. The memoire expands on the original text to include Fra’ de Mesmes' original complaints and Prévost's later response. Prévot noted that the Ambassador and Knight of Saint John of Jersusalem had failed to pay an agreed upon annuity of 6000 livres that de Mesmes had promised her while they were lovers. A French court awarded her the annuity after a very public civil trial. Frá Jean Jean-Jacques de Mesmes entered the Order of Malta as a minor in 1676. He was the son of Jean-Jacques de Mesmes (1630-1688), président à mortier of the Parliament of Paris, and Marguerite Bertrand de la Bazinière. His brother, Jean-Antoine de Mesmes (1661-1723), premier président of the Parliament of Paris, helped secure Frá de Mesmes’ position as ambassador of the Order of Malta to France in 1715. Frá de Mesmes held the rank of baillif ad honores and knight grand cross. He was named Grand Prior of Auvergne in 1718 and commander of Sommereu and of Moisy; He was awarded the commendam abbacy of Valleroy (Diocese of Reims) and commendam priorate of Saint-Denis de l'Estrée in 1721. Françoise Prévost was one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the eighteenth century. She was born in 1680 to humble origins in Paris. Prévost debuted in Ballet des Saisons in 1695 and at the Académie d'Opera in 1699 in the ballet Atys. In 1708, she introduced pantomime to the end scene of Les Horaces, bringing popular technique to Pierre Corneille's (1606-1684) ballet. Her career was memorialized with her solo ballet Les Caractères de la danse choreographed to the music of Jean Ferry Rebel (1666-1747). She was the teacher of Marie Camargo (1710-1770) and Marie Sallé (1707-1756). She retired as première danseuse in 1730.

"Mémoire pour l'Ambassadeur de Malte contre Mademoiselle Prévost. Factum [1726]." Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 3137; "Mémoire pour M. de Mesmes, ambassadeur de Malte, contre Mlle. Prevost. Factum [18th century]." Bibliothèque de la ville de Paris, MS 16589; "Mémoire pour M. l'Ambassadeur de Malte contre la demoiselle Prévost [April 1726]. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS 22224, fol. 135r-139v; Mémoire pour M. le chevalier de M... ambassadeur de Malthe à Paris, contre Fanchonette, connue à présent sous le nom de la demoiselle Prévost, danseuse à l'Opera (Paris: J.B. Coignard fils, 1726); Fernand Bournon, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de la ville de Paris (1893), #326, 31-32; Henri Omont, Catalogue général des manuscrits français. Nouvelles acquisitions françaises. IV. 10001-11353 et 20001-22811 (1918), #22224, 400; Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France. Tome 43. Supplément Tome 4 (1904): #904, 374; Jacques Claude de Bois-Jourdain, Mélanges historiques, satiriques et anecdotiques (1807). 2: 340-369; Mathieu Marais, Journal et mémoires (1864), 3: 397 and 402; Alfred Franklin, La vie privée d'autrefois. Arts et métiers modes, moeurs, usages des parisiens du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle (1899): 73-98; Régine Astier, "Françoise Prévost: The Unauthorized Biography," in Women's Work: Making Dance in Europe before 1800 (2007), 123-159; Deirdre Kelly, Ballerina (2012), 20-25.

i + 21 + ii

Contemporary quarter-bound in blue paper over paperboard with brown leather spine; gilded decoration and title on spine, "M. POUR L AMB. DE MALTHE"; 18th-century paper pastedowns; sale price in modern pencil in upper right flyleaf recto, "1550 livres"; inventory number in modern pencil in lower right flyleaf, "15436"

Bonnefoi Livres Anciens, Catalog 185, #35. Purchased by the Malta Study Center, December, 2018