8vo, pp.8, [2], 26, 7, [1 (blank)], [2], 34, 40; several corrections in ink in a contemporary hand; contemporary French light brown morocco-backed boards, spine gilt; minimal wear.First edition, very scarce, of this collection of short pieces on Dubrovnik by the Croatian writer and composer Antun Sorkocevic (17751841). The volume gathers together: 'Origine et chute de l'ancienne Re publique de Raguse'; 'Lettre a` M.Euse`be Salverte' (first published in Le temps, 8 January 1836); 'Osman, poe`me illyrien, en 20 chants' (a French translation of the eighth canto of Ivan Gundulic 's poem Osman, first published in La revue du Nord, no.8, 1838); 'Sur la ville et l'ancienne Re publique de Raguse' (first published in La revue du Nord in May 1838); and 'Me moire sur la langue slave' with, at the end, a 'vocabulaire mésogétique d'Ulphilas, slave et français'. In a touching if rather gloomy dedication to his daughter Marie, Sorkocevic writes that since leaving the land of his birth he has been reduced to witnessing 'l'affreux spectacle du cadavre de ma patrie, écrasée sous le char bondissant d'un siècle en délire'. 'Prêt à franchir les bords de ma tombe', he urges her to think of that land whenever she thinks of him. Sorkocevic was a member of an old Ragusan aristocratic family. 'He studied music in Dubrovnik with his father and then in Rome (178991). In1794he became a member of the Great Council, the parliament of the Dubrovnik Republic, went to Paris as the last consul to be accredited there, and continued to live in Paris after the fall of the Dubrovnik Republic. His music often shows the limitations imposed by the provincial character of musical taste prevalent in Dubrovnik. Nevertheless, some of his works show considerable dramatic intensity' (Grove online). The manuscript corrections, which include alterations to the substance as well as to grammar and punctuation, are doubtless authorial. Library Hub records a single copy (Cambridge University Library). OCLC finds three copies in the US (American Philosophical Society Library, Harvard, and Newberry Library). Language: Eastern European
