Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (The Story of the Chevalier des Grieux and Manon Lescaut), written by Antoine François Prévost and first published in 1731, is best known in its operatic adaptations by Massanet and Puccini, but at the time it was a daring experimental novel. Controversial in its time, the work was banned in France upon publication. Despite this, it became very popular and pirated editions were widely distributed.

The story, set in France and Louisiana in the early eighteenth century, follows the hero, the Chevalier des Grieux, and his lover, Manon Lescaut. Seventeen-year-old Des Grieux, studying philosophy at Amiens, comes from a noble and landed family, but forfeits his hereditary wealth and incurs the disappointment of his father by running away with Manon while she is on her way to a convent. In Paris the young lovers enjoy a blissful cohabitation, while Des Grieux struggles to satisfy Manon's taste for luxury. He acquires money by borrowing from his unwaveringly loyal friend Tiberge and by cheating gamblers, but he cannot make enough, prompting Manon to leave him for a richer man because she cannot stand the thought of living in penury.

The lovers finally end up in New Orleans, where Manon has been deported as a prostitute. They pretend to be married and live in idyllic peace, but when Des Grieux reveals their unmarried state to the Governor, Étienne Perier, and asks to be married to Manon, Perier’s nephew Synnelet sets his sights on winning Manon’s hand. In despair, Des Grieux challenges Synnelet to a duel and knocks him unconscious. Thinking he has killed the man and fearing retribution, the couple flee New Orleans and venture into the wilderness of Louisiana, hoping to reach an English settlement. Manon dies of exposure and exhaustion the following morning and, after burying his beloved, Des Grieux is eventually taken back to France by Tiberge.

It has to be acknowledged that Bécat’s illustrations for Manon Lescaut are not up to his usual standard; they have all the hallmarks of being rushed, and their reproduction is not helped by dull and lifeless pale colour work, which is not typical of the quality Paris publisher Le Vasseur. Maybe the beginning of wartime exigencies was beginning to have an effect.

The Bécat-illustrated Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut was published by Le Vasseur in a limited numbered and boxed edition of 525 copies.