GAUTIER, Théophile; André Dugo [Illustrator].
Mademoiselle de Maupin.
“Angels' kisses must be like this; true paradise is not in heaven but on the lips of one's beloved”: The Limited Editions Club Edition of Théophile Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin; signed by illustrator AndrÉ Dugo and finely bound by Sangorski & sutcliffe
New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1943.
$850.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-148550
* Custom Clamshell Boxes are hand made by the Harcourt Bindery upon request and take approximately 60 days to complete
The Limited Editions Club signed limited edition of Gautier’s retelling of the infamous legend of Mademoiselle de Maupin. Quarto, bound in full modern morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe / Zaehnsdorf with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling and detailing to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, illustrated with hand-colored lithographs. Boldly signed by illustrator André Dugo on the colophon page at the rear. One of 1,000 numbered copies, this is number 209. In fine condition. Preface by the author. Introduction by Jacques Barzun. Illustrated by André Dugo.
In September 1833, Gautier was solicited to write a historical romance based on the life of French opera star Mlle. Maupin, who was a first-rate swordswoman and often went about disguised as a man. Originally, the story was to be about the historical La Maupin, who set fire to a convent for the love of another woman, but later retired to a convent herself, shortly before dying in her thirties. Gautier instead turned the plot into a simple love triangle between a man, d'Albert, and his mistress, Rosette, who both fall in love with Madelaine de Maupin, who is disguised as a man named Théodore. The message behind Gautier's version of the infamous legend is the fundamental pessimism about the human identity, and perhaps the entire Romantic age. The novel consists of seventeen chapters, most in the form of letters written by d'Albert or Madelaine. Most critics focus on the preface of the novel, which preached about art for art's sake through its dictum that "everything useful is ugly".
Mademoiselle de Maupin.
$850.00
In Stock
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