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Alexandre DUMAS. Angèle. Paris, Charpentier, 1834.
See original version (French)
13
-
Alexandre DUMAS. Angèle. Paris, Charpentier, 1834.
See original version (French)
Estimate €200 - €400
Voluntary lot
Description
Alexandre DUMAS. Angèle. Paris, Charpentier, 1834.
In-8, red half-maroquin with corner pieces, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt head, covers preserved, bookplate.
[2 ff.], 254 pp., [1 f.], 4 pp. (catalogue), frontispiece etched by Célestin Nanteuil.
First edition.
This drama, written in collaboration with Anicet-Bourgeois, premiered at the Porte-Saint-Martin on 28 December 1833, with Ida Ferrier in the title role.
The Revolution of 1830 caused Alfred to lose the allowances and titles he had earned through his relationships with women. Although he had seduced a 15-year-old girl, Angèle, by dangling the prospect of marriage before her, it was her mother – who was better placed to further his career – whom he decided to marry. Angèle, who is pregnant by her lover and living in shame and sorrow, manages, thanks to the doctor treating her, to have a heart-to-heart with her mother. Forced to marry Angèle, though he has little desire to do so, and under the watchful eye of Henri the doctor, Alfred challenges the latter to a duel and is killed. Angèle marries Henri, who has always loved her, and all is well again.
Dumas gave Ida Ferrier, his mistress, her first major role. Her early weight gain worked wonders when Angèle appeared on stage on the verge of giving birth! Countess Dash, who would later collaborate with Dumas and who attended the premiere, recalled: ‘Dumas’s great talent lay above all in stirring the soul […] This young girl, betrayed and abandoned, conveys sublime notes of sorrow. […] It took great boldness to put this pregnant girl on stage, about to give birth; when Mademoiselle Ida entered the stage, wrapped in her loose-fitting cloak, there was a sort of stir in the auditorium […] Mademoiselle Ida was beginning to put on weight; she was so pretty that one forgave her for it. Angèle is her finest role. ’
In portraying a character willing to do anything to succeed, regardless of the political regime, Dumas undoubtedly channelled much of his own disappointment at the unfulfilled promises of the 1830 Revolution.
Vicaire III, 343; Talvart, 18; Carteret, 229; Munro, 32–33.
Binding, spines and edges rubbed, foxing.
A contemporary drama in which Dumas’s bitterness regarding the revolution gone astray shines through.
A fine copy, complete with the admirable frontispiece by Célestin Nanteuil.
From the library of Jean Meyer, bearing his bookplate
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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