Sourires Pincés by Jules Renard, the beginning of Poil de Carotte

Sourires Pincés (tight-lipped smiles), published in 1890 by Lemerre, is the first book that allows Jules Renard (1864-1910) to enter the inner circle of writers. The book is a collection of articles first published in the Mercure de France magazine founded in 1889 by Alfred Vallette for which Jules Renard is a major shareholder. The acid prose  of the author is critically acclaimed and open the doors for Jules Renard of  literary circles of his time. He makes friend with Lucien Descaves, Georges Courteline, Alphonse Allais, Edmond Rostand, Tristan Bernard, or Anatole France to whom the copy that we offer for sale is dedicated.

 Sourires Pincés is also ("With all due respect" fourth text of the first part of the collection) the book in which appears for the first time the figure of the young Poil de Carotte. The text concluded with a key phrase used four years later in the novel appeared in 1894: "In his mouth, two fingers and in his nose, only one: Everyone can not be an orphan."

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• RENARD  (Jules). Sourires Pincés. Paris, A. Lemerre, 1890, in-12, binding by Maylander. First edition publisehd at the author's expense. Copy with a dedication from Jules Renard to the author Anatole France.  Ex-libris : Dr Lucien Graux.

Le Voeu d'une morte : an Emile Zola's novel wrote in his youth

Zola in 1865

In 1899 Emile Zola agreed to reprint with his usual publisher Charpentier an early work, Le Voeu d'une morte (The Vow of a dead woman). First released in serial in Le Figaro Villemessant in September 1866, this novel was published for the first time, the same year, by Achille Faure. The plot moves forward on a misunderstanding : Daniel Raimbault receives from his dying benefactress, Blanche de Rionne, the task to watch over the daughter of the latter, Jeanne. She becomes an adult, gets married. Then widow, Jeanne receives anonymous and passionate letters secretly sent by Daniel. Jeanne believes the letters are from a mutual friend, George (you can read the entire novel in french here). Success is not at the rendezvous. It must be said that this was a commissioned work that the author accepted just to do some cash. He wrote in 1889 about the reprint by Charpentier :

I decided to make it public, not for its merit, certainly, but for the interesting comparison the literature wonderers may be tempted to do one day, between these first few pages and those that I wrote later. 

To the novel, Zola added an appendix of four short-stories, Esquisses parisiennes (Parisian sketches). The amusing "Les Repoussoirs" recounts the adventures of Durandeau a owner-manager whose business is to trade ugliness. Thus, he provides, for a walk, services of foils whom, by contrast, enhances the client's physical (full text, in french, here).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Le Vœu d’une morte. Paris, Achille Faure, 1866, in-12, binding by Champs. First edition, no deluxe paper [Carteret, II, 490].
•  Le Vœu d’une morte. Paris, Charpentier, 1889, in-12, vellum binding from that time. Second edition. One of the 100 copies on Holland paper, only deluxe paper. Ex-libris : Alidor Delzant, executor of  the Goncourt brothers.  

"Voyage en Orient" by G. de Nerval : genesis of a publication

J.-P. Girault de Prangey - Banks of the Nile - Daguerreotype © BNF

In Voyage en Orient, Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) put together ten years of experiences, views and impressions. In 1842, after a first certified hysteric crisis and a thwarted love, Nerval began a journey to the East and wants to give the impression of a serious enterprise. He enlisted the services of an Egyptologist, Th. de Fondrède. He took with him a full exploration equipment, products for daguerreotype and books to learn Arabic. His path took him to visit, among others, Alexandria, Cairo, Beirut, Constantinople, Malta. Nerval deflowered his manuscript in rare articles and garnished his purse in writing drama serials. From May 1846 to October 1847, he published "Scènes de la vie Orientale" in the renowned journal the Revue des Deux Mondes. The text is reprinted by Sartorius in 2 volumes, one in 1848  with the subtitle "Women of Cairo" and a second in 1850, "Women of Lebanon. "
In 1851 Nerval signed a contract with the publisher Charpentier : Voyage en Orient included the text published in La Revue des Deux Mondes, the double edition of Sartorius, an expanded version of "Les Nuits de Ramazan" first published in the journal  Le National, and an additional of eleven chapters to "Women of Cairo." Other variants and subsequent additions are made, especially in "Les Pyramides" and "L'Histoire de la reine du matin et de Soliman, prince des génies". Thus, after numerous revisions Voyage en Orient was born, the most successful work of Nerval in which one can fully discover the poetic, symbolist and mystic nature of the author.
(sources : Bibliographie des oeuvres de G. de Nerval par A. Marie, Guide du Biibliophile par M. Clouzot, Larousse).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• NERVAL  (Gérard de). Voyage en Orient. Paris, Charpentier, 1851, 2 volumes in-12, half black sheepskin (binding from that time). First edition under this title. 

François Coppée - Alexis Orsat : a long friendship

Francois Coppée (1842-1908), poet who first knew success as a playwriter, lived during his lifetime recognition of his peers. Archivist at the Comédie Française, he entered the Académie Française in 1884. Mocked by the "poètes maudits" who denounced his classic, simple and populist style, François Coppée was nevertheless appreciated by the little people he liked to describe lives.
Bachelor who stayed with his mother, Francois Coppée was a socialite. Little wonder then that he befriended Alexis Orsat (1837-1906), a civil servant as Coppée used to be. The poet dedicated to Orsat the poem "A Son" in one of his first collections, Les Humbles (the Modests), published in 1872. Coppée also made him meet with J.-K. Huysmans with whom Orsat liked to go to diners of the parisian suburb. Alexis Orsat is well known in the universe of bibliophilia because a lot of the authors from the period - Zola, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Maupassant, autographed some of theirs first editions to him.
For the funeral oration of his friend, Françoise Coppée wrote:
"Orsat was, you know, a very useful and conscientious servant of the state (...) But, I'm not afraid to say it, our friend was superior to his fate, and it is a pity that his faculties were not be deployed in a larger and more free space. Everywhere, he could have been part of the elite, especially in the letters he loved with passion and which gave him the greatest joys of life. "

Currently, la librairie Loliée propose :

• Coppée (François). Les Récits et élégies. Récits épiques - L’Exilée - Les Mois - Jeunes Filles. Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1878, in-12, covers. Edition with some texts published for the first time. Copy with a autograph dedication to Alexis Orsat.
• Coppée (François). Paroles prononcées par M. François Coppée sur la tombe de son ami Alexis Orsat. S.l. [Paris], s.é [Lemerre], 8 novembre 1906, booklet in-8, covers. First edition of this text pronounced by Coppée at Orsat's funeral.
  

Saint-Denys and the first theories on dreams

Marie-Jean-Léon Le Coq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis de Saint-Denys (1822 – 1892), sinologist, published anonymously in 1867 a singular book : Les Rêves et les moyens de les diriger (Dreams and how to direct them). Avant-garde, the Marquis de Saint-Denys described dreams in which the dreamer is conscious of dreaming and he suggested techniques to control these dreams. At the age of 13 years, the author began to keep a diary. He noted deficiencies in the conduct of his dreams. After six months of monitoring, he managed to fill holes in his dreamlike memory. For him, images of our dreams come from snapshots of memories, memory functioning as a camera. The spirit then recombines, during sleep, these snapshot souvenirs. In practice, the Marquis de Saint-Denys managed to control his "lucid"dreams.
This book is one of the first serious research on the subject. Marcel Proust will use it to write certain portions of A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). In 1899, the work of Saint-Denys will be cited by Sigmund Freud in his Intepretation of dreams. The book will also influence the surrealist André Breton, who names the Marquis de Saint-Denys in the first pages of Les Vases communicants (The Communicating Vessels).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• St-Denys (Marie-Jean-Léon Le Coq, baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis de). Les Rêves et les Moyens de les diriger. Observations pratiques. Paris, Amyot Éditeur, 1867, in-8, Bradel binding in cream half-vellum (Paul Vié). First edition. Frontispiece in colours. From the library of the french writer Anatole France with a hand-written note.

Comte de Gobineau : wachful eye of his time

Remarkable man by his abundant literary production, Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882) entered in politics with the support of Alexis de Tocqueville who made him Chief of Staff to the Foreign Ministry. He eventually led a diplomatic career posted to Persia, Greece, Brazil and Sweden. Gobineau wrote many poems, articles, novels, short stories. He attracted the admiration of some contemporaries, notably Richard Wagner. But public recognition did not come. it's his Essay on the Inequality of Human Races which brought him posthumous fame. European Racist movements from the late nineteenth century seized the book and borrow away a large part of Gobineau's ideology who is marked, de facto, as one of the founding fathers of racial thinking. That tarnishes the reputation of his work which is, however, rather diversified. More than a historian, Gobineau has emerged as a lyric writer and a romantic, close to Stendhal or Mérimée.

Currently, la librairie Loliée offers :

• Gobineau (Comte de). Céphanolie, Naxie et Terre-neuve. Souvenirs de voyage. Le Mouchoir rouge - Akrivie Phrangopoulo - La Chasse au caribou. Paris, Plon, 1897, in-12, original covers and back, binding (Vermorel). First edition.
• Gobineau (Comte de). Essai sur l’Inégalité des races humaines. Paris, Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1884, 2 volumes in-12, binding. Second edition.
• [Gobineau (Comte de)] - Dreyfus (Robert). La Vie et les Prophéties du Comte de Gobineau. Paris, Cahier de la Quinzaine, Seizième cahier de la sixième série, 1905, in-12, bradel bradel. Copy with a dedicace from the author to Marcel Bontemps.
• Gobineau (Comte de). La Fleur d’or. Paris, Grasset, « Les Cahiers Verts », 1923, in-12. Copy on vergé bouffant paper.

The Monk by Lewis : a major literary influence of Surrealism

Classic from Gothic literature, The Monk is an early work, written by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818) originally to entertain his mother. It was published for the first time in 1796. The book, subversive by its themes (incest, kidnapping, torture, pacts with the devil, necrophilia, exorcism...) but also conventional by its morality, is very well received by the public to the point that the author earned the nickname "Monk Lewis." But, the criticism was outraged by the story and launched censure. So much so that Lewis published a second expurgated edition in which he withdrew the most scandalous part - when Antonia's mother offers her daughter a truncated version of the Bible to protect her from verses she considered unhealthy.
In the nineteenth century, The Monk influenced French writers including the young guard of Romanticism. In the twentieth century, in his Surrealist Manifesto, André Breton, makes of The Monk a literary model, with Les Chants de Maldoror, of the movement. In 1931, Antonin Artaud proposes a new approach, The Monk by Lewis told by Antonin Artaud published by Denoël & Steele. In the preface, he writes :
"That, therefore, all those whose spirit of new data flows back to the closed and purely organic senses as to their droppings, those who feed on the common residue and the usual excrement of the mind called reality, I continue to hold as an essential work The Monk, which shakes this reality at full arms, drags in front of me witches, apparitions and larvae, with the most perfect natural, and which finally makes supernatural a simple reality.(Photo: Matthew Gregory Lewis by Henry William Pickersgill - National Portrait Gallery, London - source: wikipedia).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers the rare first French edition :

• Lewis (M.G.). Le Moine. Paris, Maradan, an V (1797), 3 volumes in-12, green binding from the period. First French edition before the one published by Maradan the same year in 4 volumes.
  

Marcel Proust at Madeleine Lemaire's room

Madeleine Lemaire, born Madeleine Coll (1845-1928), French watercolorist and miniaturist, was holding the most attended artistic and literary room of the Belle Epoque. Marcel Proust met her in 1891 and is charmed by the fifty year old woman who loved to paint roses. The young author is anxious to consolidate its position and Madeleine Lemaire brought him in the game of society life. In summer, she invited her "followers" to stay at her chateau near Paris or a her villa in Dieppe. This is where Marcel Proust met Reynaldo Hahn, who became his lover. From this period uprised Pleasures and Days, illustrated by Madeleine Lemaire and completed by four piano pieces by Reynaldo Hahn, a work inspired by the dandy Robert de Montesquiou also met at the watercolorist room in 1893. In the preface, Anatole France summed up:
"Ce calendrier des Plaisirs et des Jours marque et les heures de la nature par d'harmonieux tableaux du ciel, de la mer, des bois, et les heures humaines par des portraits fidèles et des peintures de genre, d'un fini merveilleux. Marcel Proust se plaît également à décrire la splendeur désolée du soleil couchant et les vanités agitées d'une âme snob. Il excelle à conter les douleurs élégantes, les souffrances artificielles, qui égalent pour le moins en cruauté celles que la nature nous accorde avec une prodigalité maternelle. [...] Heureux livre que le sien ! Il ira par la ville tout orné, tout parfumé des fleurs dont Madeleine Lemaire l'a jonché de cette main divine qui répand les roses avec leur rosée."

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Proust (Marcel). Les Plaisirs et les Jours. Illustrations de Madeleine Lemaire. Préface d’Anatole France et quatre pièces pour piano de Reynaldo Hahn. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1896, in-8, folder, case. First edition. One of the first 30 copies on China paper.
• Proust (Marcel). Les Plaisirs et les Jours. Illustrations de Madeleine Lemaire. Préface d’Anatole France et quatre pièces pour piano de Reynaldo Hahn. Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1896, in-8, binding by Semet et Plumelle. First edition.
  

Marie-Antoinette under the fervent look of Léon Bloy

In 1877, Léon Bloy wrote La Chevalière de la Mort, (Knigthood of death) one of his first texts. This thin study is not released before 1891, in a magazine of the city of Gand and published in a limited edition of 100 copies. Bloy, in the style of Thomas Carlyle, whom he admires the sens of History, tries to look in a spiritual and visionnary way at Marie-Antoinette's figure: "Marie-Antoinette n'est ni profondément touchante, elle ne s'empare des âmes avec une si souveraine puissance d'émotion que parce qu'elle n'est pas une sainte." His tone is often provocative and humorous : "Quand à cette pauvre Marie-Antoinette, elle vint en France comme ce délicieux arc-en-ciel du matin qui présage dit-on, le mauvais temps". He describes Louis XVI as a "Rien des Lys" and goes on : "Marie-Antoinette couchée pendant vingt ans en travers du cœur de Louis XVI, comme le Prophète sur le cadavre de l'enfant mort pour le ressusciter, n'en put jamais obtenir cette palpitation de généreuse fureur qui aurait peut-être suffi pour dégonfler la vessie du bavardage révolutionnaire et, dans tous les cas, aurait honoré, du moins, sa pauvre mémoire."

Léon Bloy, making of the poor convicted Queen an heroic icon, comes to a lyric conclusion : "Elle naquit le jour des larmes, elle vécut une partie de sa vie dans les larmes dévorées, ses derniers jours dans les larmes répandues en pluie, en torrents et, enfin, sa mort, sujet de tant d'autres larmes, fut le Dies iroe, de l'ensevelissement d'une génération, d'une aristocratie, d'un trône et d'un monde".
(Picture : preparatory drawing for the official portrait of Marie Antoinette; painted in 1778 by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Bloy (Léon). La Chevalière de la mort. Gand, Typographie Siffer, 1891, in-12, original covers and back, full blue Levant binding, older and case (Huser). First edition limited to 100 copies. Ex-libris Marcel de Merre.

Victor Hugo and Olympio's figure

In Les Voix Intérieures (Inner Voices), a collection published in 1837, appears the character of Olympio, Victor Hugo's poetic double. This figure is emblematic of what the poet must be, a guide for the people and leaders. He is the one who sees the truth, the future and who is responsible for transmitting them. André Maurois, in the biography Olympio: The Turbulent Life of Victor Hugo, says : "Writing love poetry is natural to the young man, the poet approaching maturity expects something else for himself. Victor Hugo, between 1836 and 1840, is concerned not to play any public role. Praising nature, the sun and Juliette [Drouet] was good, but can not complete the entire life of a man who wants to "be a spirit driver." Criticism in the Revue des Deux Mondes (Review of the Two Worlds) does not appreciate this Olympio and Gustave Planche writes in the July 15 1837 issue : "It is unfortunate that the name of Olympio is absolutely impossible, but the intention of Mr. Hugo, by creating this barbarism is quite evident. It is clear that in his thought, the idea of himself endorsed the idea of the Olympian Jupiter [...] Mr. Hugo is no longer capable of vision, he found himself a priest and an altar ... " The year of the publication of Les Voies Intérieures, Hugo goes alone at Les Metz, place of his clandestine affair with Juliette Drouet. In the collection Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows), published in 1840, Hugo uses again his allegoric figure in the poem "La tristesse d'Olympio" (The sadness of Olympio). The eternal beauty of nature contrasts with the remembering of a lost happiness. With these verses, Hugo writes a monument of romantic poetry. But, as Maurois states : " criticism, nor Juliette Drouet, then did see the perfection of what was thrown away with a wonderful profusion. "
(Victor Hugo's portrait: © Library of the National Assembly - Irene Andréani photo)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers:

• Hugo (Victor). Les Voix Intérieures. Poésie. Œuvres complètes. VI. Paris, Eugène Renduel, 1837, in-8, binding of the period. First edition.
  
• Hugo (Victor). Les Rayons et les Ombres. Poésie. Œuvres complètes. VII. Paris, Delloye, 1840, in-8, beautifull binding by G. Mercier. First edition. Joined : an autograph letter of Sophie Gay to Victor Hugo in which she praises this collection, dated Versailles May 21 1840 (3 pp. in-8).
• Maurois (André). Olympio ou la Vie de Victor Hugo. Paris, Hachette, 1954, in-8. First edition. One of the first 60 copies on Holland paper.

Poems by Debordes-Valmore

In the 19th century, poetry is a genre reserved for men and few women publish under their real name. The best known of them, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) is a self-taught. Coming from the petty bourgeoisie ruined by the Revolution, the young woman survived becoming an actress and an opera singer. After a failed marriage and the death of her first son, she married actor Prosper Lachantin, said Valmore, with whom she has three children. She published, in 1819, a first collection, Elégies, Marie et Romances. The poetess, then, never stopped writing and put an end to her theatrical career in 1823. She quickly earned the admiration of his peers including Balzac, Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. Her inventiveness, which dusts off the conventionel meter, greatly influenced Verlaine.

(sources : wikipédia, Larousse).

"Quand je t'écris à l'ombre du mystère,
Je crois te voir et te parler tout bas;
Mais, je l'avoue, en ce lieu solitaire,
tout est tranquille, et mon cœur ne l'est pas,
Quand je t'écris.

En vain j'écris : quand l'âme est oppressée,
Le temps s'arrête; il n'a plus d'avenir.
Non, loin de toi, je n'ai qu'une pensée,
et mon bonheur n'est plus qu'un souvenir :
En vain j'écris.

Je n'ai plus d'espérance :
Mais je ne voudrais pas, pour tout mon avenir,
perdre le souvenir! "

Le Billet - in Poésies, Boulard, 1830

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Desbordes-Valmore (Marceline). Poésies. Paris, A. Boulard, 1830, 2 volumes in-8, binding by Mercier. First general edition, with vignettes from Deveria, Henri Monnier, Tony Johannot and Pujol. One of the few copies on thin vellum paper including 4 plates figures in 3 conditions,and the engraving on vellum paper. Joined : two handwritten paper sheets of Desbordes-Valmore (the fist one, a poem and the second, a letter regarding her daughter Ondine).
  

Charles Bovary and Flaubert savoir-faire

The first Madame Bovary that we discover in the famous novel written by Gustave Flaubert is not necessarily the one we think about. The story opens with a sketch taken place in a provincial school : "the new fellow", a shy and meticulous boy does not dare throwing on the floor, like his schoolmates, the new and ridiculously pedantic cap his mother makes him wear. In one chapter, Flaubert tells how a relentless maternal love brings Charles, future husband of Emma, to surpass his mediocrity in order to reach an acceptable social status. Madame Bovary wants her son to become a doctor. The young man moves in town to study and is stunned by the list of disciplines he must follows. "He understood nothing of it all ; it was all very well to listen he did not follow. Still he worked, he had bound note-books, he attended all the courses, never missed a single lecture. He did his little daily task like a mill-horse, who goes round and round with his eyes bandaged, not knowing what work he is doing. " In this quote, we can sense Flaubert savoir-faire, the syntax made of simple and acurate sentences which build up to conclude on an obvious and almost cruel metaphor.

One night, Charles, now a rural doctor, is called to treat a fracture, by chance, "simple". He meets Emma and his father, injured. Young widow of an unhappy first marriage, Charles falls in love with Emma. It is through his eyes that we see for the first time this young and pale woman with a look "that came at you frankly, with a candid boldness." After a court whose romantic dimension seduces Emma but reflects mostly Charles clumsiness and inexperience, a marriage is quickly settled. As a happy man, Mr. Bovary becomes puffy, lost in a comfortable routine ; regarding Madam ... after only fifty pages, the issue comes as a bolt from the blue : "Before marriage, she [Emma] thought herself in love ; but the happiness that should have followed this love not having come, she must, she thought, have been mistaken. And Emma tried to find out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Flaubert (Gustave). Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province. Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 1857, 2 volumes bound in one, in-12, full red levant, original covers preserved, case (Chambolle-Duru). First edition.

Diderot, Rameau's nephew

"Qu’il fasse beau, qu’il fasse laid, c’est mon habitude d’aller sur les cinq heures du soir me promener au Palais-Royal. C’est moi qu’on voit, toujours seul, rêvant sur le banc d’Argenson. Je m’entretiens avec moi-même de politique, d’amour, de goût ou de philosophie. J’abandonne mon esprit à tout son libertinage. Je le laisse maître de suivre la première idée sage ou folle qui se présente, comme on voit dans l’allée de Foy nos jeunes dissolus marcher sur les pas d’une courtisane à l’air éventé, au visage riant, à l’oeil vif, au nez retroussé, quitter celle-ci pour une autre, les attaquant toutes et ne s’attachant à aucune. Mes pensées, ce sont mes catins."

On this paragraph opens Le Neveau Rameau (Rameau's Nephew - text in french here) in which Diderot maintains a philosophical conversation between two allegorical figures of himself: He - this nephew who has a materialistic vision of life, and I - Diderot, the philosopher who wants to help humanity. The unconventional construction, the satirical dimension - Diderot scratches some famous names - explain that the manuscript does not appear in France. It is Goethe who published the book in 1805 in Germany. The first french edition dates from 1821 and appeares in a set of 22 volumes described as the first collective edition - in addition to Le Neveau Rameau, it also presents the Voyage de Hollande (Travel to Holland) in a first edition. In 1891, Georges Monval, Librairian at the Comédie-Française, finds the autograph manuscript of Diderot among other papers of the family of Angelique de Vandeul, the daughter of the philosopher. The text of this manuscript is most of the time chosen for recent editions, like the one of 1924, illustrated by Naudin (drawing reproduced above).
(Source: wikipedia.fr)

Currently, the Librairie Loliée offers:

• Diderot (Denis). Œuvres. Paris, Chez J.L. Brière, 1821, 22 volumes in-8, bounded at that time (P. Gaudreau). Ex-Libris from 'Henry William Shaw. First collective edition.
  
• Naudin (Bernard) – Diderot (Denis). Le Neveu de Rameau. based on the original manuscript published by Georges Monval. Preface by M. Louis Barthou. Illustrations by Bernard Naudin. Paris, Auguste Blaizot, 1924, fort in-4, en feuilles, broché. Exemplaire sur vélin de Rives.

The lyrical studies of Banville

Well-acquainted with Hugo and Gautier, friend of Baudelaire who greeted his talent since the publication of his first collection, Les Cariatides, Théodore de Banville goes against realistic poetry and rejects the drift of romanticism towards an easy and weepy style. For him, the beauty of poetry comes through a ceaselessly work on language. He called, besides, his poems collections lyrical studies. Both by his themes and his obsession with the purity of verse, he became one of the leaders of Parnassianism. His impressive work - 17 collections of poetry, rhyme plays, publications in periodicals - remains a model for many french poets of the second half of the 19th century. Banville also had a decisive influence on Mallarmé, Leconte de Lisle, Verlaine, Catulle Mendès, he regularly received at home. In 1871, he even housed Rimbaud, who was initiated to poetry with the journal Le Parnasse Contemporain, and who sent him several of his poems.


The publication in 1857 of Les Odes funambulesques marked a turning point in his style, more flexible, and brought him consecration. Les Nouvelles Odes Funambulesques, published in 1869, contain the famous poem "Promenade Galante" which, for the story, was set to music by Charles Koechlin.

Currently, The librairie Loliée offers :

• Banville (Théodore de). Nouvelles Odes Funambulesques. Paris, Lemerre, 1869, in-12. First edition with a a frontispiece by Léopold Flameng. One of the 10 copies on Holland paper (with two more conditions of the frontispiece).

Octave Uzanne : the friend of books

Octave Uzanne (1851-1931) leaves the city of Auxerre, after classical studies, to live his passion for literature in Paris. He writes for book lovers publications then builds his own reviews (Miscellanées bibliographiques, Le Livre, Le Livre moderne, L'Art et l'Idée). He publishes new pieces, of Sade and Baudelaire among others, accompanied by bio-bibliographical references to assist in the understanding of the authors.
In 1889, he takes part in the creation of a publishing company, the "League of Contemporaries bibliophiles". He frequents the circles of Art Nouveau and Symbolism and binds especially with Jean Lorrain, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Remy de Gourmont.

He also publishes personal works : novels, fantasy books, bibliographical studies. These are illustrated editions, with a limited publication, produced in collaboration with artists such as Eugène Courboin or Félicien Rops. He also contributes to various newspapers : La Dépêche de Toulouse, Le Figaro, Le Mercure de France.
In 1886, Uzanne publishes Nos Amis Les Livres, subtitled "Causeries sur la littérature et la librairie ("Talks on literature and bookshop)." This collection, made of literary and scholar "zigzags" about books, remains a benchmark for book lovers.

(source : Wikipedia.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• UZANNE (Octave). Nos Amis les livres. Causeries sur la littérature et la librairie. Paris, Charpentier, 1886, in-12, binding (Bretault). A frontispiece by H. Manesse. One of the 5 copies on Chine paper , with five conditions of the frontispiece, plus two different conditions of the cover. Personal copie of the author, with his ex-libris.
• UZANNE (Octave). Contes de la vingtième année. Bric à Brac de L'amour - Calendrier de Vénus - Surprises du coeur. Paris, Floury, 1896, in-8. Frontispiece by Daniel Vierge and drawings in camaïeu by E. Courbouin. Limited edition to 700 copies, this one on vellum paper.

Sand : Story of my Life

Histoire de ma vie (Story of My life) is the main autobiographical work of George Sand. It is regarded as a work founder of the genre, with Les Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Les Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe by Chateaubriand. George Sand draws in the correspondence of his parents to feed family portraits. Sometimes unscrupulous with dates, she focuses on her impressions, her feelings. She militates for gender equality.

Begun in April 1847, Histoire de ma vie first appears in 138 numbers from October 1854 to August 1855. The book is published the same year in 20 volumes by the editor Victor Lecou and then, in 1856, by Levy in ten volumes in-12.

(sources : http://pichot.sylvestre.club.fr - www.evene.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Sand (George). Histoire de ma vie. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1856, 10 volumes in-12, bound in violet half-leathe (binding from the period).

Dedicaces by Verlaine

Dédicaces is perhaps the most heterogeneous collection of poems by Paul Verlaine. It contains 4 ballads and 37 pieces dedicated to his friends. There is included in the first edition of 1890 (followed in 1894 an expanded edition) a portrait of Verlaine at the hospital. It is one of the many portraits done by F.-A. Cazals, cartoonist and close friend, during the convalescence of Verlaine to Broussais, his "sanitary prison", in which the poet, depressive, made several stays.

Despite a growing celebrity, Verlaine does not get over the remarriage of Mathilde, his wife, and is affected with not seeing his son. Between wanderings, absinthes and hospitalizations, he holds on with the help of his friends. Dédicaces is released through the intermediary of Léon Deschamps who, after the parting of Verlaine with his publisher Vanier, brings out the book at the editions of La Plume-Bibliothèque Artistique et Littéraire.


Put back in this context, Dédicaces, bouquet of sonnets offered by Verlaine to his friends, has a very moving dimension.
(source : album Verlaine - bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Gallimard - 1981)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Verlaine (Paul). Dédicaces. Drawing by A.F. Cazals, engraved by Maurice Baud. Paris, Bibliothèque Artistique et Littéraire, 1890, in-16, bound. First edition. On of the 50 copies on Holland paper signed by the author.

Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe

Chateaubriand began writing his memoirs in 1811, the year of his nomination at the Académie Française. He pursues the redaction of this vast autobiographical project for more than thirty years. He writes down the political and historical events of his time and, like Rousseau in his Confessions, says the details of his private life, talks about his personal aspirations. In order to avoid the poor biographies and to delay criticism of his enemies, Chateaubriand wanted to make his work published after his death and released from "outre-tombe", over the grave. (Indeed he changes the original title "Memoires d'une vie "). Pressured by financial problems, he sells his memoirs in 1836 to a company which secured him a decent income for the rest of his days.

In 42 volumes published, Les Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe (full text) stigmatizes the duality of Chateaubriand. The writer claims a freedom of style, exalts his personal feelings with lyricism, while the public man, provides a chronicle of his time who sees the advent of democracy to which he is opposed.
If its detractors reproch him a tumid style and an excessive vanity, Chateaubriand, by his description of nature, his analysis of inner feelings and by of his poetic prose, became a model for the generation of romantic writers. And the legend tells that Victor Hugo exclaimed as child: "I want to be Chateaubriand or nothing! ". (source : wikipedia.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• CHATEAUBRIAND (F.A. de). Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe. Paris, Eugène et Victor Penaud, 1849, 12 volumes, in-8, bound. First edition. Joined : the subscribers list and a letter of Chateaubriand to Delloye. All the covers are in perfect condition, bound in a fresh pastiche in the 19th century style.

Par les champs et par les grèves

Par les champs et par les grèves, posthumous work, relates travels Flaubert made in Britain with Maxime Du Camp. Du Camp specified in his Souvenirs littéraires that the choice actually came to Britain because it was a rather far distant country, still out of civilization by his language and by his way of life. The book contains a distant irony which is typical of Flaubert who loves to mix different levels, writing about the visit of a monument and in the same time quoting his readings of travel.

This book is a learning tale, of sensations, of the wild and primal beauty of nature, and also a learning of britain people who has such peculiar standards. With this book, Flaubert experiments with the descriptive narration and adjusts his technique (portaits, urban and outsides lanscapes). Par les champs et par les grèves is also a quest tale, the one of a writer "in the making", who runs in the step of one his stylistic masters, Chateaubriand. There is something really touching when Flaubert visits the grave still empty of Chateaubriand at the Grand Bé island, or when he pays a nervous visit to Combourg where the great author grew up.

The book already indicates the Flaubert's touch and his predilection for all-embracing themes and motives, any material suitable for future novels. Nothing strange so that Proust was inspired by Par les champs et les grèves, his reading coincides with the redaction of Jean Santeuil and the sequence dedicated to Beg-Meil.
Source : http://www.crlv.org/outils/encyclopedie/afficher.php?encyclopedie_id=562

Currently at the librairie Loliee:

• Par les Champs et les grèves, Paris, Charpentier, 1886, in-8, binding by Yseult. Original Edition.
  
• Par les Champs et les grèves, Paris, Carteret, 1924, binding by Noulhac. Edition illustrated by 53 etchings of Henri Jourdain.

La Russie en 1839, a major political piece of Marquis de Custine

Born in the middle of the French Revolution ( March the 18th, 1790), The Marquis Alfonse de Custine had a fitful lifestyle. Originally from a rich and aristocratic family, he was the grandson of General de Custine who led the Army of North in 1793 and was decapitated by the Jacobins.

The Marquis de Custine is early attracted by literature, no doubt under the influence of the writer Chateaubriand who was the lover of is mother, Delphine de Sabran, for twenty years. He travelled a lot, in England, Switzerland, Italy (1811-1822), Spain(1835) and in Russia (1839), taking notes of his impressions and reflections. If his travelling records were succesful, especially La Russie en 1839, his others books, novels and plays, were less regarded.
Refined and acute spirit, sometimes conflincting and disgraceful, the Marquis de Custine, between 1832 and 1857, maintained a patron reputation by inviting the whole artistic Paris : painters, musicians and above all writers. Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Georges Sand, Victor Hugo ou Barbey d'Aurevilly took part in the sumptuous nights at the house of the street de la Rochefoucault and frequented the inner diners of the castle of Saint-Gratien. (Source : http://saintgratien.free.fr/custine.htm).

In La Russie en 1839, several volumes presented as letters sent to parisian friends, the Marquis de Custine describes and analyses Russia by the prism of his own society, the post revolutionary France. The Marquis stayed three months in Russia, during the summer of 1839, went places as Saint-Petersburg or Moscow. He was introduced to the Csar Nicholas but talked also with dissidents as the philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev.
In the foreword, the Marquis de Custine makes a lucid balance, based on his aristocratic, liberal and moralistic point of view :
"Il me semblait qu'en disant la vérité sur la Russie, je ferais une chose neuve et hardie : jusqu'à présent la peur et l'intérêt ont dicté des éloges exagérés ; la haine a fait publier des calomnies : je ne crains ni l'un ni l'autre écueil. J'allais en Russie pour y chercher des arguments contre le gouvernement représentatif, j'en reviens partisan des constitutions."
La Russie en 1839, major book who was republished six times, is as important in the political literature as his equivalent, the essay of Tocqueville Democracy in America.

Currently at Loliee's bookshop :
La Russie en 1839, Paris, d'Amyot, 1843, 4 volumes, in-8, contemporain binding.