François-Marie de Marsy

ABBE FRANÇOIS MARIE DE MARSY (Paris 1714- 1763).
"Modern History. XI Volumes.
Printer; Desaint and Saillant, Paris, 1755.
Incomplete printing.
With antique binding of the 18th century.
Measurements: 17 x 10 x 4 cm.
François-Marie de Marsy entered the Society of Jesus, but eventually decided to join the literary and cultural world of his time, and began his career writing poems in Latin, characterized by a formal care and an elaborate style. Later, Marsy switched to writing in French, with works of elegant and erudite style. His early works include Templum Tragœdiæ (1734) and Pictura (1736), a poem that inspired Lemierre for his work De l'Âme des bêtes (1737). His output also included the Histoire de Marie Stuart (1742, three volumes), and the Dictionnaire abrégé de peinture et d'architecture (1746, two volumes). Between 1754 and 1778 he published the Histoire moderne des Chinois, des Japonais, des Indiens, etc., a project in thirty volumes, of which the first twelve were written by Marsy and the remainder by Adrien Richer. In 1755 appeared his Analyse raisonnée de Bayle, a compilation of passages by the thinker Pierre Bayle considered critical of religion, which earned him a condemnation by Parliament and a brief imprisonment in the Bastille. He also published Le Rabelais moderne (1752, eight volumes), an adaptation of Rabelais' works for a wider public.
In addition, Marsy translated from English the Mémoires de Jacques Melvill (1745, three volumes), thus extending his work as a translator and popularizer of foreign literature in France. His career reflects a combination of erudition, literary criticism and encyclopedic activity typical of the French 18th century.