France's national library gets Casanova's memoirs

AP Photo DLM101, DLM105, DLM103, DLM104, DLM106

PARIS (AP) -- France's national library has acquired the memoirs of Casanova, a moving narrative written in French by the 18th century Venetian-born lothario.

The memoirs, "The Story of My Life," had been in the hands of one of Germany's most prominent publishing families for nearly two centuries.

The manuscript was acquired by the Brockhaus family in 1820, hidden by Frederic-Arnold Brockhaus during World War II, then carried by an American military truck in 1945 out of Leipzig. It was finally published in 1960.

The manuscript was donated to the French National Library. Casanova, who was born in 1725, wrote his memoirs between 1789 and 1798, the year of his death.