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72 - RIMBAUD (Arthur). A Season in Hell. Brussels, M.-J. Poot & C…
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Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
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Description
RIMBAUD (Arthur). A Season in Hell. Brussels, M.-J. Poot & Cie, 1873. In-12, paperback, with a black half-box cover and matching slipcase. A rare and sought-after first edition of the only book published by Rimbaud himself, then aged nineteen. It was published at the author’s own expense in Belgium, where 450 or 500 copies were printed on ordinary vellum, without fine paper. Throughout the volume, 17 pages have been left blank, for a reason that has not yet been clarified. As the young poet was unable to pay the printer, he was only able to collect half a dozen copies; he left one at the Petits-Carmes prison for Verlaine and distributed the others to friends. The remainder of the print run remained on the premises of Jacques Poot, where it was not rediscovered, intact, until 1901, when a Belgian bibliophile acquired the 425 well-preserved copies and destroyed the others, which had been damaged by damp. A very fine copy in its original published condition. Minimal foxing on the edge. Monda & Montel, pp. 5–18 – Galantaris, nos. 276–279 – Arthur Rimbaud at the BN, 1954, no. 322 – Carteret, II, 271 – Clouzot, 237 – Christophe Bataillé, ‘The first edition of *Une saison en enfer*’, *RHLF*, 2008/3, pp. 651–665.
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About the sale First editions from the 19th to the 21st century
Auction location
Auction time 09/16/2026 at 2:00 PM
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ALDE
See original version (French)
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