SOURCE: An Introduction to Four Tales, by Isabella A. (Van Tuyll) de Charrière, translated by Sybil Marjorie Scott, Books for Libraries Press, 1926, reprinted 1970, pp. xi-xxvii.

In the following essay—a 1970 reprint of a work originally published in 1926—Scott connects numerous events in the author's life to those which appear in her fiction.

The four tales here translated [The Nobleman, Mistress Henley, Letters from Lausanne, and Letters from Lausanne—Caliste] have, I think, a dual interest. As literature they possess a quiet but genuine merit, and fill a graceful if inconspicuous niche in the cold temple of eighteenth-century romance. But, also, to an unusual extent they throw light upon their author, and help to complete the picture of Madame de Charrière, whose story, brought to light by the late Prof. [Philippe] Godet, [In his Madame de Charrière et ses amis, d'après de nombreux documents in...