TOTTLEBEN, Gottlob Curt Heinrich von. Memoires de la vie du Comte de Totleben contenant l'histoire de ses deux mairiages & ses autres avantures en Saxe & en Hollande, avec le precis de ses campagnes au service de S. M. Czarienne just jusqu a son emprisonment en 1761. Le tout suivi de son apologie & de ses reflexions politiques &c. Zaltbommel: Jean Guillaume Kanneman. 1762.
Two parts in one volume, small 8vo. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with raised bands, compartments richly decorated in gilt, red morocco lettering-piece; pp. 128; 136, two etched frontispieces in pagination, folding engraved battle plan at the end of the volume; light rubbing to extremities; bookplate of the Hungarian library in Hédervár, designed by the artist Aladar Richter in 1929; a very good copy of a scarce work.
According to the preface a substantially enlarged edition in the year of the first. Usually ascribed to the Dutch lawyer and professional writer Franciscus Lievens Kersteman, this anonymous publication tells the incredible story of the 18th-century German adventurer and soldier Gottlob Curt Heinrich von Tottleben, who when serving in Russia shot to fame for having taken Berlin for the Russian army in 1760 during the Seven Years War. Before that he had served in Saxony which he had to flee because of corruption. He served in various European armies, including with the Russian Army in Georgia. On the way through his tumultuous life are several marriages, a death sentence by Catherine the Great and her pardon.
Bound with at the end: HAREN, Onno Zwier. Memoire De Mr. O.Z. Van Haren, Concernant La Cause Celebre Entre Lui & Mrs. Et Mesmes. De Hogendorp Et Zandyk, Ses Beaux-Fils Et Ses Filles, au sujet de L'Attentat D'Inceste Don’t ils l'ont accusé. Leeuwarden: Aux depens de la compagnie. 1762.
Onno Zwier van Haren, a Frisian noble, writer and politician was accused by his son-in-law and future son-in-law of incestuous relations with two of his daughters. He was forced to sign a confession and leave the province of Holland. The scandal raged on with Van Haren retracting his confession, accusing his daughters of being very unattractive. The Sun would have loved it.
Provenance: In 1755 Hédervár Castle received Baroque additions commissioned by Mihály Viczay and housed a library of 15,000 volumes. His grandchild from his third marriage was Károly Khuen-Héderváry who later served as Prime Minister of Hungary twice. It was he who commissioned the bookplate.
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