ONE OF ONLY 143 ILLUSTRATED COPIES OF FEUILLET’S LE VILLAGE, HANDSOMELY BOUND BY CARAYON

FEUILLET, Octave. Le Village. Scène Provinciale. (Paris): Société Normande du Livre Illustré, 1901. Octavo, contemporary full olive crushed levant morocco, raised bands, full red levant morocco-gilt doublures, silk endpapers, marbled flyleaves, all edges gilt; original printed paper wrappers and spine bound in. $1000.

Lovely illustrated first edition of Feuillet’s play, number 15 of only 143 copies on papier vélin with etched frontispiece portrait, title page vignette, headpiece, tailpiece and full-page illustration after designs by Albert Dawant, each in double suite. Finely bound by renowned French Art Nouveau bookbinder Emile Carayon.

“One of the most popular of 19th-century novelists… his plays [were] almost equally successful” (Harvey & Heseltine, 272). Preface to this posthumously published edition by Mme. Feuillet, revealing that an overly harsh judgment by Feuillet’s father prevented him from publishing and producing this play during his lifetime, despite the author’s prolific successes. Text in French.

Spine gently sunned. Still a very handsome volume in fine condition.