The Adventures of Gil Blas, of Santillane. 3 vols.

London: J. Mawman and Baldwin, Cracock, and Joy, 1819. Hardcover. Very good. 3 vols.: xi, 388; vii, 375; viii, 398 p. 23 cm. Each volume has frontispiece + 9 plates for a total of 30. Half leather with marbled paper boards. Respined with gold trim and black and burgundy spine labels. Corners and edges worn, some rubbing to boards. Foxing. Tissue guards present.

Tobias Smollett, in the preface to his first novel, The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), acknowledges the influence of Le Sage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane on his work. By far the most successful of "useful and entertaining" romances, Smollett writes, Gil Blas describes "the knavery and foibles of life, with infinite humour and sagacity." "The following sheets," he adds significantly, "I have modeled on his plan." Smollett's translation of Gil Blas appeared nine months after the publication of Roderick Random. This chronicle of a merry, philosophical young man whose adventures lead him into all levels of society from the highest to the lowest, presents special problems for a translator. Smollett, without always adhering to the literal expression of the novel's language, is true to its style, spirit, and ideas. After two and a half centuries, his remains the finest translation of this humorous, satiric, and classic French novel.