Les Destinées; Précédés de Moïse

Paris: Edouard Pelletan, 1898. Limited Edition. Fine. Georges Bellenger. Quarto, 11 3/4 x 9 3/4 in (300 x 248 mm), 196 pp., red crushed morocco, boards framed with an embossed black fillet between gold fillets, same motif between the five raised bands on the spine, and gilt title; triple gold fillet on interior boards, with decorative gilt motifs on corners, marbled end papers; paper cover and spine bound at beginning and end, title page in brick and black lettering, edges gilt, slipcase with leather edges and red marbled paper to match book color: BINDING by CHARLES MEUNIER (stamp-signed in gilt on lower turn-in). Limited edition of 350 copies with 46 illustrations by Georges Bellenger (1847-1915), engraved on wood by Eugène Froment (1844-1926), of which 320 in Octavo format. This one of 30 special copies re-set and printed in Quarto format, and one of 15 among them printed on old hand-made Japon paper, uncut. This custom edition includes two EXTRA PRINTS of each plate, printed on Japon and on China (Chine collée) paper, and bound into the book. ENHANCED COPY This customized copy is #14 and was specially printed for Monsieur Charles Freund-Deschamps with additional plates and original artwork bound in. - Pencil drawing with watercolor signed in ink by Georges Bellenger, bound-in behind the paper cover, representing a semi-naked odalisque lying on the legs of a seated man. - Two very beautiful original black charcoal pencil drawings, hilighted with white, on blue wove paper (9.5 x 6.5 in / 240 x 165 mm), signed by the Orientalist painter Alexandre Bida (1813-1895), on pasted in, the other bound in on tabs. The first represents a group of young women discovering an infant in a wicker basket floating on the Nile and the second shows Moses, solitary, in a landscape of mountains and an original pencil drawing signed the same for his Memories of Egypt ( 18.5 x 23 cm). - Pencil drawing (6 3/4 x 9 1/2 in., 170 x 240 mm) by Alexandre Bida (1813-1895), depicting the "Flight to Egypt" with slight lack of paper on corner, not affecting the artwork. - a beautiful ALS from de Vigny to Mme Perrier (3 pp. In-12, undated) [see text below] - ALS from the publisher Pelletan in Paris, dated October 6, 1912, 2 pp. in-12 to Mr. Charles Freund-Deschamps, announcing the arrival of the customized bound edition and offerning another book. [Vicaire, VII, 1068; BNF31577739]. SUPERB COPY, VERY NICELY ENHANCED AND VERY WELL CONNECTED. A beautiful autograph letter from Alfred to Vigny to Mme Perrier (3 pp. In-12, undated) is bound into the book. The poet was moved by what his correspondent wrote about the great Romantic painter Girodet: "I believed," he notes,"To hear him speak and see him again; you have made me feel again what was sweet in his life and cruel in his death. " He remembers reading his (already forgotten) verses in font of the artist's "immortal paintings ". Nobody, he concludes, will forget what he was: "the great poet of painting". Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (1797 - 1863) was a French poet and early leader of French Romanticism. He also produced novels, plays, and translations/adaptations of Shakespeare, notably 'Othello' and 'The Merchant of Venice'. 'Les Destinées', whose original title was intended to be 'Poèmes Philosophiques', was published posthumously in 1864 by his executor Louis Ratisbonne. 7 of the 11 parts were published between 1843 and 1864 by the Revue des deux mondes. The last piece in the collection, L'esprit pur/The Pure Spirit, was written 14 days before the author's death, and is interpreted as the poet's last message to the world. The exquisite binding is signed by Charles Meunier (1865-1940), a renowned Parisian binder noted for his innovative and energetic approach to binding, with his impressive repertoire of binding tricks, including inlay, onlay, paint, gilding, marbling, tooling, and cuir ciselé. Provenance: The Library of GUY BIGOIRE.