Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete

The Duc de Saint-Simon’s celebrated memoirs give an unrivaled, gossipy, and razor-sharp insider’s account of the court of Louis XIV at Versailles—the etiquette, rivalries, scandals, and personalities of the Sun King’s dazzling and suffocating world. A brilliant observer with a novelist’s eye for character, Saint-Simon captures the grandeur and pettiness of absolute monarchy in unforgettable detail. His portraits of kings, courtiers, and schemers are masterpieces of the memoirist’s art. A monumental work of history and literature, these memoirs are the definitive window onto the French court at its height and a dazzling chronicle of power, vanity, and human nature.