The editor addresses his purpose for publishing the letters: He was asked to do so by those who presented him with the letters. He only asked to omit those things that he felt were superfluous. Some of these omissions had been granted to him, some were not. He opines about the usefulness of the book: “[I]t is doing a service to society to unveil the strategies used by the immoral to corrupt the moral” (6).

03 August: Cécile Volanges writes to her friend, Sophie Carnay, who is her friend from the Ursuline convent. Cécile is awaiting a certain Monsieur C. A man arrives whom she mistakes for this monsieur. She is timid because the man behaves very openly towards her, kneeling before her. She assumes he might be her betrothed. Her mother laughs, informing Cécile that the man is a shoemaker.

04 August: The Marquise de Merteuil writes to the Vicomte de Valmont. She has a plan for revenge for both of them, since they both feel wronged by the young Comte de Gercourt. The marquise wants Valmont to come by at seven the next day to discuss her plans.