[BRUZEN de LA MARTINIERE]. Anecdotes ou Lettres secrètes sur - Lot 672

[BRUZEN de LA MARTINIERE]. Anecdotes ou Lettres secrètes sur divers sujets de littérature et de politique. sl, sn, February 1734. In-12 of (2) ff. 724 pp. Brown calf, ornate ribbed spine, burgundy maroon title page (contemporary binding). Spine damaged and missing, corners dulled. First complete year (February-December 1734) of this periodical attributed to BRUZEN DE LA MARTINIÈRE, known to have published several periodicals of comparable formula. However, La Martinière's editorship probably did not begin until August 1734; prior to this date, the journal was composed exclusively of handwritten news items, dated Paris. All contributors to Les Anecdotes, whether in Paris, Lyon, London or Amsterdam, are anonymous. "The Anecdotes provide in printed form what the handwritten news from which they derive provided: news items, political and literary anecdotes, accounts of trials, tales and short stories, reflections on mores. The literary news is relatively precise and recent. A man who receives these Letters from Paris, and from various provinces, has consented to share them with the Public": these few lines from the February 1734 Avertissement show the narrow limits of La Martinière's project; the aim was merely to publish, with a few editorial corrections, "piquant" news from Paris. In August 1734, success seemed assured: a new title page was designed, with a new printer's finial; printing in a smaller type size made it possible to increase the matter; a notice at the end of the issue spoke of the "Public's eagerness" and announced that news from England and Holland would be published in the future, which they did. This transformation of the periodical into a veritable literary and political gazette gave the editor cause for concern; a new title page in September suggested a change of printer; the December Avertissement spoke of the "delays" of the previous months. News of the war took up more and more space in the paper, which at times seemed to compete with the Amsterdam Gazette as a Catholic organ. In May 1736, the editor announced the publication of two volumes of unidentified plays. The journal's cessation that same month probably preludes its transformation into a more official "political and literary journal". We can, however, regret the rather free tone and picturesque variety of the Anecdotes of 1734, which was a real innovation at the time." (Jean SGARD, in Dictionnaire des Journaux, online).