Lot n° 24
Estimation :
9000 - 12000
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Baudelaire (Charles), *Les Fleurs du mal*. Alençon: Poulet-M - Lot 24
Baudelaire (Charles), *Les Fleurs du mal*. Alençon: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857.
1 volume, small 8vo in a case edged with red morocco, later binding in full red morocco, ribbed spine with author, title, and date in gold, all edges gilt. Inside covers in navy blue morocco, gold fillets on the edges (Huser binding). Spine slightly sun-faded. Both covers are preserved. The front cover has been skillfully restored at the lower right corner. Spine preserved and lined with Japanese paper; a small loss at the foot. Cover in 4th state; on the back cover, the errors have been corrected; *Les Fleurs du mal* is listed in the “Bibliothèque moderne” section, and the price indicated on the spine is 3 francs. The error in the word “s’enhardissant” on page 12 has been corrected. Printed on unlined high-quality paper; the leaves measure 191 mm by 119 mm, the margins are wide, the leaves are clean with very rare pinholes; a few more distinct pinholes are visible on the damaged sections that were repaired and mounted on tabs. The history of this copy is unique: at the beginning of the volume, three leaves were bound together, two of which were handwritten. It is noted that this copy was one of some 200 copies from which the condemned sections were removed, and thus includes the tabs and replacement leaves added after the “mutilation”—or, to use Baudelaire’s expression, “the ridiculous surgical intervention”— that is, the removal of the six pieces condemned by the courts in 1857 and deemed immoral, namely: *Lesbos*. *Damned Women*. *Delphine and Hippolyte*. *The Lethe*. *To the One Who Is Too Cheerful*. *The Jewels*. The Metamorphoses of the Vampire. The following text states that in 1950, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Henri Martineau, a renowned Stendhal scholar (who would play a major role in establishing the Stendhal edition in the Pléiade series), who had owned since 1920 one of the two collections of pages deleted in 1857 and preserved at the Alençon prefecture, it was possible to reconstruct this copy. The omitted pages were reinserted in their original places on the existing tabs, and the replacement leaves were preserved and bound at the end of the volume, after the table of contents. Collated and complete copy: half-title, title page, 247 pp., 2 ff. of table of contents. This copy contains the usual typographical errors: “feurs” instead of “fleurs” on pages 31 and 108; page 45 mistakenly numbered as 44; and “captieux” instead of “capiteux” on page 201. A very fine copy, unique for its history.
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