The History of the Chevalier Des Grieux and of Manon Lescaut

First published in 1731, this narrative is told by the Chevalier des Grieux, a student of good family who abandons his career after meeting Manon Lescaut. Their life in Paris turns on her taste for pleasure and his willingness to gamble, cheat, and follow her through prison and disgrace. They are transported to Louisiana, where jealousy and colonial law close in. The tale is a short novel of passion and ruin, framed as a confession within a larger set of memoirs. It is not a history of New France.

Bound in full purple cloth. Variants, one with the top edge stained pink, the other unstained. White dust-jacket printed in purple-red and black.