18. BOSQUET (Amélie). La Normandie romanesque et merveilleus - Lot 18

18. BOSQUET (Amélie). La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse, traditions, legends and popular superstitions of this province. Paris, J. Techener (Rouen, A. Le Brument), 1845. In-8, viii, xvi, 519 p., [1] p., green half-basin, smooth spine decorated. First edition of this work by Amélie Bosquet (1815-1904), which combines documentary rigor (with the help of the curator of the Rouen Library) and literary sensitivity, and is part of the Romantic movement while anticipating modern ethnographic studies. The work is distinguished by its ambitious structure: after three chapters on the legendary dukes of Normandy (such as Robert le Diable), it explores popular beliefs: fairies, sorcerers, fabulous animals, fantastic hunts, child abductions and substitutions, elves and hidden treasures, druidic monuments, werewolves, nature spirits, revenants, possessions, etc. Bosquet avoids facile picturesqueness, underlining with typical Norman irony the gap between these tales and rising rationality. His method combines meticulous gathering from local people ("all the old tales that people like to retell") and critical analysis, making the work both a compendium of fantastic literature and a reflection on the social function of myths. Binding rubbed with spotting, other minor defects. (Frère, I, 131).