“DELICATELY SENTIMENTAL, HUMOROUS SKETCHES OF PROVENÇAL LIFE"

DAUDET, Alphonse. Lettres de Mon Moulin. Paris: La Bonne Compagnie, 1945. Quarto, contemporary full crushed turquoise morocco, gilt-decorated spine and covers with windmill motif, reversed calf doublures and endpapers, all edges gilt. Housed in custom matching half morocco chemise and leather-edged slipcase. $850.

Lovely illustrated edition of this classic series of “delicately sentimental, humorous sketches of Provençal life,” illustrated with 40 vibrant color lithographs by Jean-Denis Malclès, number 37 of only 65 copies printed on Rives with an extra suite of the 15 full-page lithographs (from a total edition of 1001). Beautifully bound with a windmill motif by Denise Dumon.

"Today Daudet is remembered chiefly by the Lettres de Mon Moulin, delicately sentimental, humorous sketches of Provençal life which appeared first in Le Figaro (1866) and in book form in 1868… For a time he was a leading naturaliste, writing with the care for documentation typical of the movement, but his work comes alive by his gift for vivid, impressionistic description and because his naturalism never excluded the warm, poetic, fantasy-loving side of his character" (Harvey & Heseltine, 188). The old windmill of the Lettres, at Fontvieille, near Arles, has been restored and is now a Daudet museum. The extra suite of the 15 full-page lithographs are bound in at the rear. Text in French.

Fine condition. A splendid production.