Wallstein
First edition of Wallstein, Benjamin Constant's first literary work.
In fine contemporary binding.
Octavo, LII and 214 pp., (1) leaf. Half glazed brown calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, marbled edges. Period binding.
205 x 122 mm
Constant, Benjamin. Wallstein, tragedy in five acts and in verse, preceded by some reflections on German theater, and followed by historical notes.
Paris, Geneva, J. J. Paschoud, 1809.
First edition of Benjamin Constant’s first literary work.
Clouzot, 70; Escoffier, no. 186.
“Important preface and very free translation by B. Constant” (Clouzot).
Maurice Escoffier devotes a long note to this important work in the history of Romantic literature: “Was this not, as early as 1809, to be the precursor of a large part of romantic drama (…) This preface takes on both the air of a manifesto, before Schlegel, and of a prophetic warning when it foresees the excesses of romantic drama (…) Wallstein remains, from the perspective of theatrical doctrine, a manifesto linking the past with the near future.”
Banished from Paris with Madame de Staël by order of Napoleon in 1803, Benjamin Constant traveled to Germany. In Weimar, he met Friedrich von Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
During the writing of Wallstein, begun as early as 1807, he was living through a passionate and stormy break-up with Germaine de Staël.
“Constant was leaving Madame de Staël, then returning to her, always wavering and postponing the break. What was Madame de Staël’s contribution? Perhaps something in the Preface” (Escoffier).
“There have been many readings looking for an autobiographical dimension in Wallstein. According to Jean-Pierre Perchellet, for example, the tragedy, written during a period of acute crisis, is a means of exonerating and self-justifying his intention to break off with Madame de Staël” (F. Vitale).
“From Benjamin Constant we see the psychologist, the ruthless analyst of the soul and of passionate life, the ironically wounded lover, in short, the man with all his weaknesses and impulses, but with all sincerity and with a deep devotion to literature that appears through the work of one of our best, if not greatest, writers” (Talvart).
Provenance: library of Auguste Lambiotte, with ex-libris.
A French-speaking Belgian liberal politician from Brussels, Auguste Lambiotte (1862-1920) was the founder of La Réforme. He was elected municipal councilor of Schaerbeek and senator for the Brussels district.
