La Fille Naturelle, ou l'Abus de l'Indépendance; drame historique, en trois actes et en vers. Reçu à plusieurs Théâtres de Société, à Paris. Par M. de B….. de [ BARRUEL-BEAUVERT (Comte Antoine Joseph de) ]

A Paris, chez Chambon, an XI (1801). 8vo. 84 pages. Full red morocco, ornate smooth spine, gilt roulette around covers (contemporary binding). First Edition. An apparently autobiographical play, published anonymously by the Comte de Barruel-Beauvert (1759-1817), who was the first biographer of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In it, he recounts the persecution of a father orchestrated, during the French Revolution, by his natural daughter, who had denounced him for royalism and who is described in the play as Albertine, "an extraordinary model of falseness, blackness and villainy, with an infinite appearance of candor and honesty. Aged 17". The play's father, a character presumed to represent the author, was named Joseph like him. "Les monstres sont de tous les sexes; mais, dans l'espèce humaine (et certes ce sont les monstres les plus dangereux) ils appartiennent principalement à la nature des êtres faibles: elle a droit de les réclamer; elle les a produits. Telle est l'héroïne de cette tragédie". The preface ends with this dark prophecy: "Your children, under their feet, will trample your corpses". At the end of the volume, an "editor's afterword" describes the situation of "Joseph" (the author) after the Revolution and in the early hours of the Consulate, to which he now pledges his allegiance. It is a rare book that we only found listed in public funds at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and at Princeton. Antique signature "Jauzelle" on verso of endpaper. A fine copy bound in contemporary red morocco.