Ad 1: A very popular treatise on jealousy and on keeping peace in a marriage, published without the authors name but attributed to Antoine de Courtin (1622-1685), from Riom in Auvergne, who wrote several works on manners and behaviour and became French ambassador to Sweden and private secretary to the Swedish Queen Christine (who knighted him in 1651) and then to King Karel-Gustav.
Ad 2: Imitation, adaptation or loose translation, in old French, of the third day, first part, of the Pietro Aretinos Ragionamenti, first published 1534-1536, making fun of prostitution in the Roman nobility. Aretino (1492-1556) a social and religious radical, often satirized leading noblemen and church authorities, including Pope Leo X. Joachim Du Bellay translated some of Aretinos letters, so its tempting to look for his hand in the present French text, but as far as we know there is no documentation of the translator or adapter.
Ad 3: A purely occult work by Kenelm Digby that proved very popular, discussing a "powder of sympathy" that cures wounds and cuts from a distance, first published at Paris in 1658. Digby also presents his belief that under certain conditions people could live forever. A 12-page appendix at the end gives numerous tips to preserve a women's beauty. Kenelm Digby, better known as Chevalier Digby (1603-1665), was a famous English naturalist and physician, who converted to Roman Catholicism and lived mainly in France. Umberto Eco used the idea of the powder of sympathy, though in reverse, in his 1994 novel L'isola del giorno prima.
Ad 4: Second edition of a series of 33 letters about happy and unhappy marriage, written by "Sr. de Mainville", letters I-IX & XXXII addressed to "Madame de ****" and X-XXXI & XXXIII to "Mademoiselle de ****". Little is known about the author, though often reported as Jean de Mainville. The widow of Sébastien Huré in Paris published the extremely rare first edition (1 copy in WorldCat) in 1683. It must have proved popular, given the appearance of the present edition a year later and a second Paris edition in 1688.
With the circular bookplate of Bob Luza (1893-1980) (showing a book with "BL" in a pseudo-Hebrew style). Ad 1 lacking the final blank leaf; otherwise in good condition. Binding worn and spine damaged. Ad 1: Gay-Lemonnyer III, col. 1236; WorldCat (2 copies, incl. 1 apparently incomplete); cf. Rahir 3398 (similar 1677 ed.); not in STCN; for Courtin and the text: Kamal Farid, Antoine de Courtin (1969), pp. 19, 29-32 & passim; Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, 9 (1931), p. 14. Ad 2: Brunet 180332? (ed. ambiguous); Gay-Lemonnyer I, cols. 896-897? (ed. ambiguous); WorldCat 1146423505, 52484083 & possibly 475034161 (3 or 4 copies); not in STCN. Ad 3: Brunet II, 708; Ferguson, Bibl. chem. I, p. 213 note; Ferguson, Bibliogr. notes, VI, 22; STCN (2 copies); WorldCat 83109953, 1025579941, 457848494, 633388424 (5 copies); cf. Caillet 3124 (Rouen and Paris eds.); Duveen (French eds.); Thorndike VII, p. 498 ff. & VIII, 295 ff. (on the sympathetic powder). Ad 4: WorldCat 231068513, 29824265, 906635710, 902326400, 939645923, 1181029910, 1190992204, 457902912 (14 copies); STCN (3 copies); cf. Cioranesco 44759-44760 (1683 & 1688 Paris eds.).