- FIELDING (Henry). Tom Jones, or The Foundling. Paris, Dauthereau, 1828, 6 volumes in-18, half green basane, smooth spines decorated with gilt garlands and fillets, marbled edges. Binding of the period (foxing). A priori a reprint of the version by Louis-Claude Chéron de La Bruyère (1758-1807), first published in 1804, but the name of the translator is not mentioned. Since its first publication, The History of Tom Jones, a foundling (1749) has been the subject of numerous (and it has been said: plethoric) attempts at French versions throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but the very first one, given by Pierre-Antoine de La Place in 1752, and which inspired Voltaire for his Candide, is much more a free adaptation than a translation. In this vein, most of the versions up to 1830 will keep this adaptation character, erasing the English side as well as Fielding's biting incision, in favour of an often very bland sentimentalism.