VERLAINE (Paul). Fêtes galantes. Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 18 - Lot 144

VERLAINE (Paul). Fêtes galantes. Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1869. Small in-12, long-grained blue morocco, gilt inner fillets and corner finial, 5-rib spine with cold fillets, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine cons. ORIGINAL EDITION, printed at 350 copies on Hollande laid paper, of this major work by Verlaine. Verlaine's second collection of poems, self-published like the Poèmes saturniens three years earlier. The 22 pieces it contains are all based on the theme of fêtes galantes, so dear to Watteau; Théodore de Banville was exquisite in his praise: "Take Paul Verlaine's Fêtes Galantes with you, and this little magician's book will restore to you, suave, harmonious and deliciously sad, the whole ideal and enchanted world of the divine master, of the comédies amoureuses of the great and sublime Watteau" (quoted by Van Bever & Monda, Bibliographie et iconographie de Verlaine, p. 11). A fine copy in a contemporary binding by a highly-regarded bookbinder (Renan, Dumas), with its fresh cover and spine. Van Bever & Monda, 10; Montel, 13; Galantaris, no. 16; Vicaire, VII, 990; Carteret, II, 418.