498
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. DEO. 21, 1901.
latter part of the eighteenth century. It
passed into the possession of J. Parkinson,
and was finally sold by auction in 1806, there
being 7,879 lots, and the sale lasting sixty-
five days. The catalogue was drawn up by
Edward Donovan. I should be glad to hear
of anybody who has this catalogue, and to
know the leading auctioneers in London at
that date, and their modern representatives,
if they have any. E. F. Du CANE.
10, Portman Square.
CASANOVIANA.
(Concluded from p. 441 -)
LAFORGUE'S adaptation of the ' Histoire de ma Vie ' which he called " Memoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt, e'crits par lui-meme " does not pretend to be an exact repro- duction of the original. The professor evi- dently sailed as near the wind as he could. The appearance of the first four volumes (two in 1826, and two in 1827) stung the German censor and the reading public. The cry was so loud that Herren Brockhaus did not feel it safe longer to exasperate public opinion, and five years elapsed before vols. v. vi. vii. viii. saw the light ; this time not at Leipzig, but in Paris. They appeared in 1832, under the protection of Messrs. Heideloff & Campe, 16, Rue Vivienne. The German censor morum who had crushed the first four volumes was imitated by his French confrere. The pub- lication was stopped, and the remaining four volumes, which were to complete the first edition, were carried off to Brussels la ville lumiere, whose censor was not to be feared. In that city, in 1838, appeared the four con- cluding volumes of this editio jwinceps, which is now so rare. For obvious reasons the pub- lisher's name was not affixed to the work. Meanwhile, between 1825 and 1827, a pirated edition of the memoirs was published in Paris by Messrs. Tournachon-Molin. This work is merely a retranslation from the German expurgated edition, and consequently has no value. Its title ran thus :
Memoires du Venitien J. Casanova de Seingalt, extraits de ses Manuscrits originaux publics en Allemagne par G. de Schiitz, et traduis: les trois premiers volumes par M. Jung, les sept autres par Aubert de Vitry. (10 vols. in P2mo.)
The following list of the various editions, drawn from Laforgue's adaptation of Casa- nova's MSS., which have appeared since 1827, may interest bibliophiles :
Memoires sur les cinquante dernieres annees du
No further volumes issued.
Memoires de Jacques Casanova de Seingalt ecrits
par lui-m^me. (Edition originale, la seule com-
plete.) Paris, 1833-37. 10 vols. 8 vo. Paulin, editeur.
Memoires (same title). Bruxelles, 1833. J. D. Meline. 10 vols. in-18. An incomplete edition.
Memoires (same title). Nouvelle edition. Pub- lished by Paulin in 4 volumes, 12mo. Paris, 1843. Imprimerie Bethune & Plon.
Memoires (same title). Bruxelles, J. Rozez. 1860 and 1863, 6 vols. 12mo ; and in 1871, 6 vols. 8vo.
Memoires (same title). Paris, Gamier Freres. 8 vols. 8vo (1879), and 8 vols. in - 18 (1880), with analytical table.
In 1894 Messrs. H. S. Nichols & Co. pub- lished in London a translation, in 12 vols., of the memoirs of Casanova. It was, I believe, printed for subscribers only.
There has since been an expurgated edition published in London in English, of which I know nothing.
We have it on the authority of Herr Hein- rich Brockhaus that the Brussels edition, designated " la seule complete," is not more complete than the one arranged by Laforgue and published by his firm at Leipzig, Paris, and Brussels, except that the names of his- torical personages, who were indicated by initials in the first edition, are now set out in full. Unfortunately, much of the original has been eliminated. In the Rozez edition there are many chronological errors, due either to haste, transcription, or printer's ignorance. The last volume has evidently been considerably curtailed. In Brockhaus's German edition Cagliostro is mentioned. He appears in the chapter on Aix-la-Chapelle ; in later editions his name is not to be found.
I should like here to point out to those who conscientiously condemn these memoirs on account of the immorality which pervades them that they were not in the first instance written for the public eye. Casanova, like Tallemant des Reaux, whose 'Historiettes' were not printed for two centuries after his death, wrote his ' Histoire de ma Vie ' only for the amusement of his intimate friends, and at the express desire of Count Joseph Waldstein and the Prince de Ligne. It would, of course, have been better if Casanova had cast a veil over the libertinage of his career. But, in that case, the general effect of the picture which he has so well drawn would have been marred. As a tableau of the eighteenth century these memoirs have a peculiar value ; and, while we most honestly condemn certain portions of that work, we must remember that it is not easy to gauge the manners of that epoch by our own standards of morality. In an age which courted the acquaintance of, and assisted to maintain, such men as the Comte de St. Ger- main, the Marchese Ludvig Hitter, Baron
