Originally published in 1942, this book contains the French text of Abbé Prévost's 1731 novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, which inspired the 1893 opera by Puccini. The original novel was considered so scandalous that Prévost was forced to amend the original manuscript; the text reproduced here is from the altered 1753 edition.