BARBEY D'AUREVILLY (Jules) - Lot 98

BARBEY D'AUREVILLY (Jules) L'Ensorcelée. Paris, Alexandre Cadot, 1855. 2 volumes in-8, bradel beige cloth, smooth spine decorated with a gilt fleuron, black title page, untrimmed (Pierson). First edition, dedicated to the Marquis de Custine. A fine copy, having belonged to Paul de Saint-Victor with his small stamp in red ink on the titles; it appears in his catalog (1882, n°711), then bound in half-basane. Paul Bins, comte de Saint-Victor (1825-1881) was Lamartine's secretary, a fact deplored by Barbey, who met him at the end of 1848: I have, through the most ordinary encounters in the world, lately known a young man who has the misfortune to be Lamartine's secretary (Correspondance générale, II, p. 124). The man quickly became a friend and admirer of Barbey, who later entrusted him with his first two Memoranda written for Maurice de Guérin. Unfortunately, the errata page at the end of Volume I is missing, as is the page corresponding to pp. 133-134 in Volume II.