La Femme Testuë, ou le Médecin Hollandois; Comédie. Representée par la Troupe du Roy.

Bookseller Notes

A very scarce comedy in verse, by the French geographer Jacques Robb (16431721). In his Preface, Robb mentions Molire, to whom he is indebted for aspects of plot and character; his titular Femme, Isabelle, has echoes of Le Malade imaginaire's Anglique, her lover Cleante is also a character here, and the title's medical context carries an echo of that play. Robb offers an apologia which is reasonably thoughtful by the standards of the day; he graciously concedes that while there do exist stubborn women, gentleness of spirit is understood to be the sex's prevailing character trait. He further explains that the hostility towards women evinced by the character Lubin carries little weight, because Lubin can speak only like the beast that he is. Robb is best known as a geographer whose work was translated into various languages, including for an Ottoman audience. Another issue has 1686 on the title-page and WorldCat lists just six copies, all of which are the 1686 issue (BL, BnF, Bibliothque Mazarine, Chicago, Johns Hopkins and Chicago).