[Paul VERLAINE].

Lot 28
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
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Result : 20 220EUR
[Paul VERLAINE].
The Friends. Sonnets by the licentiate Pablo de Herlagnez. Segovia, 1868 [Brussels, Poulet-Malassis, November 1867]. Large booklet in-8 : royal blue morocco, double ribbed spine, richly framed with four gilt fillets and a brown morocco scroll with gilt fleurons in the corners and mosaics of red morocco, inner frame decorated with the same, caramel silk lining and endpapers, gilt edges on witnesses, green paper mute cover preserved, case (Charles Septier). Genuine first edition, of great rarity: it was published in Brussels, under the cover. Limited edition of 60 copies (and not 50 as announced in the justification): 2 copies on chine and 58 on vergé de Hollande, of which four reprinted. One of the four reprinted copies in large octavo format, on Hollande paper (n° 4) The six lesbian sonnets are Paul Verlaine's second publication: a youthful work prior to the Fêtes galantes. The title presents the author under the mask of Pablo de Herlagnez and the fi ctive address, Segovia, are so many precautions taken to mislead the henchmen of the imperial censorship. The scarcity of the collection, due to the limited print run, was exacerbated by the fact that most of the copies had been smuggled to France. They were seized at the border - except for the eight author's copies that Poulet-Malassis had kept in Brussels. Les Amies was condemned to the pillory by the Lille correctional court in May 1868. Poulet- Malassis hastened to produce a second edition, which was soon followed by counterfeits. The two Poulet-Malassis editions, long confused because of their apparent conformity, are distinguished by typographical criteria which Christian Galantaris has listed in his catalogue Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé (2000, n° 11 and 12). Thus, in the first edition, the C of Chine in the justification, as well as the B of Balcon in the table are printed in lower case (in capitals in the second edition). In the title, the article Les (Les Amies) is printed in black (all in red, for the second edition). A fine copy with full margins in a mosaic binding by Charles Septier. From the libraries of J.-S. Marchand and Louis de Sadeleer, with ex-libris. Spine slightly omitted.
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