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AGUTTES
121
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BOREL, Petrus. Madame Putiphar.
See original version (French)
121
-
BOREL, Petrus. Madame Putiphar.
See original version (French)
Estimate €400 - €500
Voluntary lot
Description
BOREL, Petrus.
Madame Putiphar.
Paris, Ollivier, 1839.
2 volumes in-8, frontispiece, 446 pp. and frontispiece, 475 pp. 19th-century red morocco with long grain, spine with faux raised bands, author’s name, title, volume number and date gilded, gilded framing with fillets and gilded metalwork on the panels and covers, double gilded fillet on the headbands and footbands, three gilded fillets and a gilded scroll on the spines, original cover preserved, edges gilt [Mercier, Sx. de Cuzin] (very slight foxing on the frontispiece of volume 2).
Bibliography:
Escoffier, 1343. Vicaire, I, 865.
Description:
First edition.
Complete set of frontispieces by Louis Boulanger (one of which is signed), wood-engraved by La Coste and printed in black on China paper.
Only one copy in the CCFr (BnF).
A fine copy in an elegant original binding by Mercier.
A ‘roman noir’, one of the rare French equivalents of the English Gothic novel.
The most significant work by Pétrus Borel (1809–1859), known as the ‘lycanthrope’, a figure of Romanticism long underrated. Rehabilitated by André Breton and now recognised as a representative of ‘frénétisme’, a movement characterised by the quest for an unattainable absolute, generating an existential malaise expressed through cynicism, paroxysmal emotions or hallucinations induced by hashish, opium or alcohol. With a scandalous reputation stemming from his claimed affinity with *Melmoth* or Sadean writing, and seeking to portray the 18th century as an age of darkness, Borel employs the trope of Mrs Putiphar, a biblical character (Genesis 39), a lecherous temptress who abuses her power, as a metaphor for Madame de Pompadour, whom he regards as the embodiment of the corruption of female power.
“An important and highly sought-after work.” (Carteret, I, 142).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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