Stendhal

1823 · Best.-Nr. 66771 — A Paris: Chez Bossange Delaunay Mongie & Les Marchands de Nouveautés 1823. M. de. Beyle Henri. Racine et Shakspeare. and No. II. À Paris: Chez Bossange père DeLaunay Mongie and Les Marchands De Nouveautes 1823 1825. Very scarce first edition of both volumes. Two octavo volumes in one 8 3/16 x 5 inches; 209 x 127 mm. 1-55 1 blank; 4 3 advertisements 1-103 1 errata pp. Half-titles for both volumes. Bound together in twentieth-century half brown levant morocco over marbled paper boards by Stroobants. Spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Top-edge gilt others partially uncut. Red silk page-marker. A few pages trimmed shorter at the fore-edge but with no loss of text. Some minor marking to back board. A bit of very light foxing. Overall an excellent near fine copy. Marie-Henri Beyle known under his pseudonym de Stendhal was born in Grenoble France in 1783 and died in Paris in 1842. Although employed at various military and government posts throughout his life his underlying passion for art and literature is expressed in his writings penned between 1812 and 1839. His peers and contemporaries included Honoré de Balzac Victor Hugo and George Sand. Perhaps most famous for his novel Le Rouge et le Noir 1831 his earlier essays and short works reveal his artistic and literary development. This polemic treatise signaled Stendhal's entry into the struggle between classicism and romanticism. A second essay on Racine and Shakespeare referred to as 'Shakespeare II' was published in 1825 of which is also present here. Ebisch & Schüking A Shakespeare Bibliography p. 151; Lalanne Dictionnaire Historique de la France p. 284-5; Lanson Gustave Manuel Bibliographique de la Litterature Française Moderne 19078. Not in OCLC Bibliotheque Nationale de France or Brunet. HBS 66771. $3500. Chez Bossange, Delaunay, Mongie & Les Marchands de Nouveautés unknown