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36
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Dumas’s masterpiece?
See original version (French)
36
-
Dumas’s masterpiece?
See original version (French)
Estimate €800 - €1,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Dumas’s masterpiece?
Alex. DUMAS. Memoirs. Brussels, Meline, Cans, 1852–1856.
26 volumes in 12 in-18 volumes, in burgundy half-percaline with contemporary corner pieces.
First series: [2 ff.], 261 pp.; [3 ff.], 280 pp.; [2 ff.], 287 pp.; [2 ff.], 272 pp.; [2 ff.], 257 pp.; [2 ff.], 246 pp.; [2 ff.], 263 pp.; [2 ff.], 254 pp.; [2 ff.], 258 pp.; [2 ff.], 263 pp.; [2 ff.], 262 pp.; [2 ff.], 245 pp.; [2 ff.], 266 pp.; [2 ff.], 300 pp.; [2 ff.], 334 pp.
Second series: [2 ff.], 257 pp.; [2 ff.], 260 pp.; [2 ff.], 287 pp.; [2 ff.], 286 pp.; [2 ff.], 291 pp.; [2 ff.], 286 pp.; [2 ff.], 299 pp.; [2 ff.], 288 pp.; [2 ff.], 245 pp.; [2 ff.], 262 pp.; [2 ff.], 270 pp.
The original edition was published in Paris by Cadot in 1852–1854, but the Brussels edition is, by Dumas’s own admission, more complete and indeed, if we are to believe a letter from Dumas to Meline, ‘the only complete edition to be published abroad ’.
Dumas began writing his Memoirs in 1847 and continued them during the Second Republic. In them, he recounts the story of his life up to 1833. They first appeared as a serialised novel following the coup d’État, and Dumas claimed in a letter to the publisher Méline that they had been redacted: ‘You must understand how much these memoirs by a republican author, the son of a republican general, are being censored at the moment. Fortunately, my excellent memory allows me to restore here what is being cut out in Paris. ”
In this work, running to several thousand pages, Dumas races through the first thirty years of his life with unflagging verve.
His childhood in Villers-Cotterêts, marked by the ever-open wound of his father’s death, provides Dumas with an opportunity to devote many pages to his father’s biography (just as George Sand had done for her own father in *Histoire de ma vie* in 1847).
Among all the moments of brilliance in this remarkable text, Dumas’s participation in the Romantic struggle is a highlight, as it brings to life the violent clashes and the outpouring of passions it unleashed. Dumas devotes numerous chapters to one of its leading figures, Victor Hugo.
The other defining moment in Dumas’s life—the 1830 Revolution, in which he played an active part—is also dealt with at length; Dumas does not merely recount his exploits, such as his expedition to Soissons to retrieve gunpowder, but also analyses the political and social context. He revisits his relationship with Louis-Philippe and his falling-out with the king.
A literary monument and a historical epic, the *Mémoires* also serve as a means for Dumas to stage his own legend and to present himself – even if it means distorting the truth slightly – as he would like to be seen.
Munro, 257.
Two split bands, minor scuffs.
One of Dumas’s finest books, in a contemporary binding.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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