Pulcherie

12mo of (4) ff., 72 pp., the last page, full, ends with: end of the fifth act. Blue Jansenist morocco, ribbed spine, double gilt fillet on the edges, gilt-tooled inner roll, gilt edges over marbling. Binding signed by Cuzin.

148 x 85 mm.

Corneille, Pierre. Pulcheria. Heroic Comedy. Paris, Guillaume de Luyne, 1673. With Royal Privilege.

Very rare first edition ofPulcheriaby Pierre Corneille, which “can be considered a success in its genre.”
Tchemerzine, II, 578; Picot, no.89; Le Petit, 190.

"Pulcheria" is a heroic comedy in five acts, by Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), which was performed in Paris in 1672 on the stage of the Marais theater. With Emperor Theodosius dead, Pulcheria, who is destined to ascend the throne, wishes to marry Leon, a young Roman whom she loves and who loves her. The senate hesitates to approve such a plan, as it deems Leon incapable of fulfilling the duties such a role would entail. However, Martian, an old court minister who is in love with the princess but must conceal his feelings due to his age, supports the choice of the future empress. The senate entrusts the sovereign with her new functions and demands that she provide the Roman people with an emperor worthy of them. "I am empress and I was Pulcheria," says the princess, resolved to sacrifice her love for Leon: she offers the empire to the noble and generous Martian. Leon marries Martian’s own daughter, who was in love with him, and is elevated to the rank of Prime Minister.

In the Preface to Pulcheria, his penultimate play, Corneille wrote that, although it was performed by little-regarded actors (it had been accepted neither by the Hôtel de Bourgogne nor by Molière), “although its characters are opposite to the taste of the time, it nonetheless succeeded in filling up an empty theater, bringing into credit actors whose merit was previously unknown, and proving that it is not always necessary to submit to the whims of the age to be heard on stage.” The anti-Racine strategy could not have been stated more clearly. By choosing a subject in which the heroine was an empress remembered for her wisdom and devotion, for which her virginity became a symbol; in which the tender feelings of the heart are suppressed by the requirements of an entirely platonic love; in which, finally, the only true (and restrained) stirrings of love are experienced by an old man, Corneille knew he was appealing to the public of the older generation, predisposed to be moved by wise and political loves. A small audience, which could ensure a success, but no longer guaranteed a triumph, unlike the masses who flocked to weep at the spectacle of the fatal passions of Racine’s heroes. There is no doubt: like many other plays by Corneille, Pulcheria was conceived as a challenge and a wager. But for a man who had already explored all the avenues offered to his innovative spirit, the margin was indeed narrow. Viewed as such, as an extreme case, the play can be considered a success in its genre” (Georges Forestier).

Beautiful copy, one of the four cited by Tchemerzine from the libraries ofGuy Pellionwith ex-libris andJean Meyer.