[Rarebooks] fa: FIRST PRINTING of BAUDELAIRE'S "FLEUR DU MAL" (+ the Suez Canal, w/ Folding Map) in REVUE DES DEUX MONDES - 1855

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other 17th, 18th & 19th-Century English titles,  
auctions ending Sunday, October 2. More details and images can be  
found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/arch_in_la/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

Revue des Deux Mondes. Tome Dixième [Avril, Mai, Juin]. 1855. Paris:  
1855. Thick 8vo (23 cm), bound in period roan leather and marbled  
boards; 1336 pp.; folding map.

An extraordinary volume of the Revue, containing two notable (and  
wildly dissimilar) landmarks of 19th-century French history and  
culture...
The first appearance in print of "Les Fleurs du Mal" by Charles  
Baudelaire. On pp. 1079-1093; fifteen pages total, eighteen poems. The  
first printing of these eighteen poems by Baudelaire and the first  
appearance of any of his poems under this now-canonical title. The  
complete collection of Fleurs du Mal was published two years later  
(1857) and was instantly and famously condemned, the official  
condemnation not being lifted until 1949. Now considered "the most  
celebrated collection of verse in the history of modern poetry" (James  
McGowan: Introduction, Oxford World Classics edition), its first  
incarnation here is of such significance that the Revue des Deux  
Mondes singles it out for mention on its own website.

"Le Canal des Deux Mers: d'Alexandrie à Suez" by Paulin Talabot. On  
pp. 480-536; fifty-seven pages total, with a folding map. A proposal  
for a canal to follow the longer, "indirect" route from Suez to  
Alexandria, via the Nile and Cairo, rather than the "direct" route  
across the isthmus between Suez and the Mediterranean. Talabot, an  
eminent French engineer, was a member of the Société d'Études du Canal  
de Suez that had first proposed this route as early as 1847. When  
interest in the subject was revived with the granting of a canal  
concession to Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1854, Talabot reintroduced his  
proposal and published this lengthy defense of it. In the end, of  
course, the "direct" route across the Isthmus of Suez was chosen, and  
the rest is history. Talabot's text is accompanied by a handsome  
folding map of his never realized canal.

The volume as a whole is in excellent condition inside and out. Modest  
wear to the edges of the boards and spine ends, some light foxing to  
the first and last 3-4 leaves, a few occasional small, faint spots to  
the text; otherwise the contents and folding map are Fine: clean and  
sharp, firmly bound.