Molière - Œuvres complètes, Tome 1

The title reads Œuvres complètes de J.-B. Poquelin Molière, in a new edition by M. Philarète Chasles, professor at the Collége de France, and the volume is marked Tome Premier. The text gives Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière with the dates né le 15 janvier 1622, mort le 17 février 1673.

The text recalls the question Louis XIV put to Boileau about the greatest writer of his reign, and the reply that it is Molière. The text says that years of persevering diplomacy were needed before Tartuffe took possession of the theatre, and that Molière tried out acts of the play before the king, who feared the interpretations that might be given to his consent. In a scene between Éraste and Lucile, Éraste says he wants nothing that could recall what he must efface from his mind, and he gives back a portrait that shows wonderful charms but hides faults as great. Numbered notes explain words and references, for example that Succéder is used for réussir.