‎Szabo ( Magda )‎
‎La porte‎

‎Sur les Porte-Lumieres appliques a la Lampe. (And same author:) Observations sur l'Encre & le Papier.‎

‎(Berlin, C.F. Voss, 1772). 4to. Without wrappers, extracted from ""Nouveau Mémoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et belles-Lettres"", Année 1770, pp. 51-57 and pp. 58-67.‎

‎Both papers first edition. In the first paper the design of a new lamp is presented, modelled after Lambert's previous studies on the ""porte-voix"". The second deals with ink and paperdegeneration. Because a lot of Lambert's manuscripts became unreadable through water damage during the time they were stored in Switzerland before being transported to Berlin, Lambert goes into the causes of ink and paper degeneration. Through experimentation he arrives at the kind of ink and paper that withstand humidity best.‎

‎Nouveau Porte-Feuille Historique et Litteraire (+) Concubitus sine Lucina ou le plaisir sans peine. Reponse a la lettre intitulee Lucina sine concubitu.‎

‎Amsterdam, Schreuder & Mortier, 1755 (+) London, 1750. 8vo. In contemporary full calf with five raised bands and richly gilt spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Boards with scratches and a few small worm tracts, affecting entire book block, otherwise internally nice and clean. (12), 210, (2), 59, (1), 48 pp.‎

‎L'espion turc dans les cours des princes chretiens ou lettres et memoires d'un envoye secret de la Porte dans les cours de l'Europe. 7 vols.‎

‎London, aux depens de la Compagnie, 1742. 12mo. Uniformly bound in seven nice contemporary full marbled calf binding with four raised bands. Blind-tooled ornamentation to boarders of boards. Light wear to extremities, a few scratches to boards. Internally nice and clean. (2), XLVIII, 382, (12) pp.(2), 382, (16) pp. (2), 428, (16) pp. (2), 347, (13) pp. (2), XVI, 451, (13) pp. (2), 372, (10) pp." (12), 350 pp. + 24 plates (out of 25?) and 7 frontispieces. ‎

‎A nice set of the fifteenth edition of this work, being a collection of fictitious letters containing observations on contemporary European affairs by an Ottoman agent in Paris. The first edition of this work began publication in 1684 when a volume in Italian titled ""L'esploratore turco"" and a French version entitled ""L'espion du grand seigneur"" were published in Paris by C. Barbin. Authorship is disputed, but it is generally agreed that the first fifty letters (the original four volumes)--were written by Marana. Barbier ascribes two volumes which appeared in 1696 under title, ""Suite de L'espion turc"", to C. Cotolendi. (Barbier. Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, v. 2, col. 176-178).‎

‎Mémoires authentiques et interessans, ou Histoire des Comtes Struensée et Brandt. Édition faite sur le Manuscrit, tiré du porte-feuille d'un Grand.‎

‎Copenhague Et se trove a Bruxelles, B. Le Franco, 1789. Contemp. hcalf. Some loss of leather at spine-ends. Raised bands, titlelabel with gilt lettering. Some wear to covers. Engraved portrait. 144 pp. A wormtract to margins of some leaves. Printed on good paper.‎

‎Cyrano de Bergerac. Comédie héroïque en cinq actes en vers. Représentée à Paris, sur le Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, le 28 décembre 1897. 136e mille. - [""ONE OF THE CENTURY'S GREATEST SMASH HITS""]‎

‎Paris, 1898. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with five raised bands, gilt spine. Single gilt lines to boards. Capitals and corners worn. Inner hinges a bit weak. With Eugen Zabel's book plate to inside of front board, a postcard depicting Edmond Rostand's residense at Cambo, obviously posttamped on verso, pasted on to front free end-paper, contemporary newspaper-clipping about the numerous performances of ""Cyrano von Bergerac"" around the world pasted in to hinge of fly-leaf, where the presentation-inscription (for Eugène Zabel) is written, and finally, the original handwritten address in Rostand's hand, cut out from the envelope in which the book was sent to Zabel, is pased into hinge of half-title. Internally nice and clean.‎

‎First edition, 136th thousand (same year as the first), presentation-copy ""à M. Eugène Zabel/ très cordial envoi, -/ remerciement, -/ et sympathie./ Edmond Rostand/ Octobre 98"" of Rostand's masterpiece, which against all odds became one of the most popular plays of the century and an overnight success throughout Europe.At the end of the 19th century in France, as well as in the rest of Europe, the industrialization was the force that dominated almost all aspects of society, i.e. everything from politics and sociology to science, art, philosophy, etc. And thus, also literature and theatre in this period were products of this new power. This meant that the trend that became prevailing within literature and drama was that of realism, which in France soon developed into naturalism. In the midst of this all-encompassing emphasis on objective documentation of everyday life which rejected romance, idealization and dreaming of any kind, emerged suddenly a work that no one could believe would have any success whatsoever, but which against all odds became the hugest dramaturgical success of the period and a theatrical monument that has been remembered ever since and which still stands as thus: Rostand's ""Cyrano de Bergerac"", the unlikely play about romantic heroes, fairy-tale like maidens, medieval-inspired sword-fights, about poetry, love, and art. The play had been taken on already in 1897, when the manuscript was finished, but the directors of the theatre regretted their decision immediately, not least due to the public reaction to the ""outdated"" romantic comedy-drama, which nobody would want to go see, and thus they severely cut the budget so that Rostand had to pay for all the costumes himself. Even the actor playing the main part, a leading actor at the time, regretted having taken the part, and Rostand is reported to have apologized to him for involving him in this ""disastrous adventure"". ""Therefore, when the curtain rose on ""Cyrano de Bergerac"" for the first time on December 28, 1897, expectations were low. The audience, however, was about to be pleasantly surprised. From the hero's last first majestic entrance to his last farewell, he transfixed his viewers. Theatergoers cheered Cyrano's triumphs, sighed at his suffering, laughed at his witty wordplay, and cried as his fate became known. A full hour after the curtain fell, the audience was still applauding thunderously. It is not easy to explain why Rostand's play confounded everyone by becoming one of the century's greatest smash hits. Perhaps the answer lies in ""Cyrano de Bergerac's"" stark contrast to the grimly realistic plays of its day, which often focused on modern society's darkest problems. The figure of the swashbuckling Cyrano dueling his way across the stage and stunning his compatriots with his verbal cleverness took Paris by storm. In fact, many critics, both of Rostand's time and later, attributed the play's tremendous success to its romanticism, or emphasis on idealism and heroism."" (Glencoe Literature Library, Study Guide for Cyrano de Bergerac).The work immediately became a huge success and within a very short amount of time, it had been translated into almost all European languages and was performed at theatres throughout Europe.Eugen Zabel was a famous literary critic and author, who at the time of ""Cyrano de Bergerac"" was editor of the ""Nationalzeitung"". He was born in Königsberg in 1851 and died in Berlin in 1925. In his youth he wrote poems, and after his move to Berlin, he worked as a journalist, critic, and writer. He did a lot of work on Russian themes, both political, historical, topographical, and literary, and he became closely connected to the country. He was highly respected for his liiterary criticism and his opinions, though often controversial, played an important role in public opiniation. ‎