So near, but so unreachable

[luzula]

Woe. I would like to read the mid-18th century novel The Travels and Adventures of Mademoiselle de Richelieu, which is about the romantic friendship between two women who travel around Europe cross-dressed as men.

I can't find it on the Internet Archive or HathiTrust. I know there's an electronic copy in the Gale collection, but my university library doesn't have a licence for that part of the collection! When I asked them for an ILL, they said you can't do an ILL of an electronic text. And I bet it's the kind of electronic text that you can't download but have to read online, so I probably can't just find someone with a library card at a university that has it and ask them to download and send it to me. Which is ironic because it's not like it's in copyright! Woe, I say again.

Comments

[ride_4ever]

Now I feel challenged by this. I'm going to see what my own ILL resources say about this when I have a chance while at work.

[luzula]

Excellent! Do report back if you find something.

[ride_4ever]

A related question: would you be interested in buying a reprint sold via Amazon rather than a loaned library copy?

The Travels and Adventures of Mademoiselle de Richelieu as sold via Amazon.

[luzula]

Oh, I hadn't even thought of checking that, since the library said they couldn't find a printed copy! If I can't get it any other way, I'll certainly do that. Thanks a lot!

ETA: Although I see it's in several volumes, so it would cost a bit. : /

ETA2: Or I suppose I could submit a suggestion to the university library to buy the printed edition, they quite often do when you suggest something.

[ride_4ever]

Being a librarian working in Collection Management, I spend hours a day on the Amazon Books site and similar sites, so I just automatically thought to check there. (And I belatedly realized after offering to do ILL check that it wouldn't have been helpful for you because our ILL isn't international.)

[chestnut_pod]

Woe!

I did just check for my university, but alas, we don't have access either.

[luzula]

Thanks for checking, anyway! : )

[garonne]

I don't have access to a university library at all, but I am curious about this title. At first I thought it was originally written in French, but actually it's a novel written in English, right? By an English author who's pretending to be translating someone's memoirs from a fictional French manuscript, I think?

[luzula]

Yep, that's right! I guess the author thought French people would seem more exotic and interesting... : )

[regshoe]

Woe indeed—I want to read it now, that sounds amazing! I hope you do manage to find it somewhere.

[luzula]

I'll report back! I hope I can get a digital version, that way I can share it with you. : )

[oneiriad]

I'll check if it's downloadable or read online only when I get to work tomorrow.

Random searching tells me the Australian National Library appears to have it on microfilm, https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1414297 which they might be willing to make a pdf copy from, but it does not look cheap. They also have a ridiculous detective noir instruction video, because of course they do. It also looks like Library of Congress has a physical set, but I'm not convinced even the Americans would ILL something 18th century, and anyway LoC hasn't been sending anything out since Covid struck - annoyingly so. And of course British Library holds the book, but I suspect they're probably bound by some deal with Gale not to re-digitize it.

[luzula]

Thanks! I have submitted a suggestion to my university library to buy a physical copy, since it's available as print-on-demand. We'll see what they say...

[oneiriad]

Hmm. Remind me. Do I have your e-mail?

[luzula]

I had your fannish gmail address, anyway! I've emailed you.