Inspirations du Vésuve. Poésies Volcaniques par Lucifer
Naples: Chez Detken et Rocholl, 1878. Single volume, measuring 5.5 x 4 inches: 125, [3]. Original pictorial chromolithographed boards, tan cloth spine decorated and lettered in gilt, white coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Hand-numbered “196” on verso of title page, decorative initials and woodcut vignettes in text. Lightest shelfwear, ink shelfmark to half-title, penciled bookseller notes and early owner signature.
First edition of this pocket collection of romantic French verse inspired by the volcanic landscape of Mount Vesuvius and Capri, number 196 of an unspecified limitation. The poet-historian “Lucifer” assures readers that his little book’s brevity and dramatic content (sirens, intoxicants, passions) constitute a “double garantie contre l’ennui,” while his appendix provides curious travelers with information about the Campanian sites mentioned in the poems. The sensational cover design, lithographed by Eschenbach & Schaefer in Leipzig, features gilded devils hoisting a vignette of the erupting Vesuvius and a blazing heart forged by a fire-breathing horned cherub. Text in French. Provenance: Morris-Levin Collection of Publishers’ Bookbindings. OCLC locates no copies in North America. A bright and mischievous artifact of nineteenth-century Continental tourism, in fine condition.
Price: $350.00