“BEGIN WITH A GREAT LEAP TOWARD HEAVEN, AND THEN…RETURN TO EARTH”

SAND, George. The Devil's Pool. Philadelphia: George Barrie and Sons, (1901). Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter crushed brown morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, top edge gilt. $450.

Limited edition in English printed on vellum, number 970 of 1000 copies, with 14 engravings by Rudaux in double-suite. Finely bound.

In a letter written during their 40-year correspondence, Gustave Flaubert said of his friend, "You, always in whatever you do, begin with a great leap toward heaven, and then you return to earth" (Hollier, 771). That idealism is glimpsed in pastoral romances like this, from Sand's middle period. "She was not only an effortless writer: she was a born storyteller" (Oxford Companion to French Literature, 660).

Slight rubbing to extremities. Near-fine condition.