Joris-Karl HUYSMANS. Lot n° 43

Le Drageoir à épices. Paris, Dentu, 1874. In-12 of (4) ff. 115 pp. and (1) f.: half black long-grained morocco in the Bradel style, entirely untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Petitot). First edition of 300 copies at the author's expense. First issue copy: title and cover with date 1874. The collection of prose poems, in the wake of Aloysius Bertrand and Baudelaire, marks the literary debut of Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907), which became Le Drageoir aux épices shortly afterwards. According to the author himself, only four copies were sold in one month and the press did not breathe a word about it. Autograph letter signed on the false title: to M. Bobin with all the author's regards JK Huÿsmans Jean-Jules-Athanase Bobin (1834-1905) was a colleague of Huysmans and Henry Céard at the Ministry of War: he was nicknamed "the professor. According to Céard's testimony, Bobin brought occult books to the ministry which he read aloud. Three press articles devoted to Huysmans have been bound at the head of the book, two of them by the author himself. Also attached is a handwritten page mentioning Huysmans' settlement in Lourps with this comment at the foot: "This place is worth visiting." From the libraries of Henri Thuile and Louis de Sadeleer, with bookplates. Upper jaw split at foot.