Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Maria-Antoinette owned a bound copy of this novel. (Source)
The author, Choderlos de Laclos, intended the book to be a scandalous sensation that would be around long after he was gone. (Source)
The novelist Virginia Woolf, no stranger to scandal herself, was a fan of the book. (Source)
De Laclos spent a good deal of his life in the army, and was credited for having invented the artillery shell. (Source)