The Letters of Madame De Sévigné

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Madame de Sévigné's celebrated correspondence emerges here as both a literary treasure and a vivid record of seventeenth-century France. Framed by an editor who values her letters for their elegance, intimacy, and moral freshness, the selection offers a more accessible path into a life shaped by intelligence, tenderness, and courtly brilliance. Born Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, she was orphaned young, educated with unusual breadth by a generous uncle, and married into a union that soon proved unhappy, leaving her to rebuild her fortune after widowhood and to devote herself to her children. From Paris salons to provincial journeys, her letters blend family news, social maneuvering, and sharp wit with deep feeling. Her beloved daughter, Madame de Grignan, becomes the emotional center of the collection, while letters to the Count de Bussy reveal her playful precision and effortless social observation. Around her move figures such as Madame de Longueville, and the correspondence ranges from sermons and devotion to illness, imprisonment, travel, ambition, and grief. The result is a portrait of court life where wit, faith, friendship, and sorrow are inseparably entwined.