“PROHIBIR TODO STUDIO À LAS MUGERES ES TRATARLAS CON TANTA IMPIEDAD, Y GROSERÌA COMO MAHOMA” (P. 27). A SPANISH ENLIGHTENMENT GUIDE TO FEMALE BEHAVIOR. 8vo. (8), (8), 213 pp, (2). Bound in charming contemporary patterned boards with calf spine, employing paper imported from Paris (visible on the front pastedown). Spine chipped at head and foot but holding perfectly. A good copy. Very rare first edition of this Spanish translation and adaptation of a conduct manual for Enlightenment women. Nipho’s preface claims that the French original is almost impossible to get a hold of, and dedicates his own efforts to a local noblewoman, Doña Maria Teresa de Serra y Guell. Alongside his dedicatory epistle and his ‘Translators’ Preface’, Nipho adds footnotes throughout the text to explain unfamiliar ideas to his Spanish female readership. “Traducir una Obra á la letra, es esclavitud,” declares Nipho, before giving a justification for his slightly liberal adaptation of the French original. In an ‘Aviso’ following the main text, Nipho also reveals that he originally intended to replace some of the examples of French women with “Heroínas, y Mugeres ilustres Españolas”, but after much consideration decided that this would be a disservice. Instead, Nipho proposes to publish a Catalogo historico de las Mugeres ilustres de España – a project which never seems to have materialized. The chapters range from discussions of a woman’s education (Ch. II) to her permissible professions (Ch. III), her hobbies and amusements (Ch. IV), her jewelry and clothing (Ch. VI), her behavior in love and courtship (Ch. VIII), and her duties in marriage (Ch. IX). In Chapter II, for example, it is recommended that women read the Classical translations of Anne Le Fèvre Dacier and the Foundations of Physics of the Marquise de Chatelet, but to avoid the extravagances of mystics and visionaries such as Antonia Bourignon, the ‘Messiah of Women’ Giovanna of Venice, Madame de Guyon, and Ninon l’Enclos (who “forgot the regulation of her heart”, according to Nipho). They are further recommended to read the works of Christine de Pisa, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Madame de Nemours, Madame de Motteville, etc. L’Ami des Femmes was first published anonymously in 1758, and went on to enjoy numerous printings as well as translations into German (1759) and English (1766). However, in David Williams’ discussion of the enduring influence of this text (1980), he notes that he was unable to trace a copy of the present Spanish translation. OCLC shows just one copy in US libraries, at Texas A & M. A further edition appeared in 1771, but is not held in any US institution. * Palau y Dulcet 191519; and cf David Williams, “The Fate of French Feminism: Boudier de Villemert's Ami des Femmes” Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 14 (1980), pp. 37-55.