Memoirs of Madame Du Barry

Issued in the 1770s under the name of the publicist Pidansat de Mairobert, this secret-history presents the life of Jeanne Becu, Madame du Barry, last official mistress of Louis XV. It follows her rise from modest Paris origins through the circles that placed her at Versailles, her hold on the aging king, and the factions that formed for and against her, including ministers and the household of the new dauphine. Anecdotes of apartments, pensions, and police reports take the place of a private diary. The work is a contemporary chronique scandaleuse, not a later scholarly biography, and not a confession written by du Barry herself.

Quarter bound in blue artificial silk with pink paper boards patterned in silver. Glassine dust-jacket. Pale brown slipcase. The Presentation Volume for 1956.