Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
First edition of "a rare and very important work" (Carteret).
A very fine untrimmed copy preserved in its original wrappers, as issued.
2 volumes in 2 octavo volumes: I/ 342 pp. (1) blank leaf; II/ 356 pp. Paperbacks, yellow printed covers, untrimmed copy, red half-morocco folders, slipcase.
220 x 137 mm.
Lamartine, Alphonse. Poetic and Religious Harmonies.Paris, Charles Gosselin, 1830.
Original pamphlets from the time.
First editionof Lamartine’s “Poetic and Religious Harmonies”, “a rare and very important work” (Carteret) by Lamartine.Clouzot, 177; Carteret, II, 22; Vicaire, IV, 969; Talvart, XI, 31-32.
The edition is adorned with vignettes by Johannot, wood-engraved by Porret, as well as two additional vignettes on the covers.
“Most copies bear a fictitious edition notice, making them considerably less valuable.
Very frequently foxed” (Clouzot).
Rare copy without any edition notice.
Between his induction into the Académie française and the July Revolution, Lamartine published the collection “Poetic and Religious Harmonies”. The “Harmonies” themselves date from his stay in Tuscany. Upon returning to France, he found a more intimate inspiration and religious turmoil.
The scale of the work (forty-seven poems) is matched by that of each harmony, in phrases that express this communion with nature, this praise of God in His works—the main themes of the collection. But not the only ones: trust and doubt, grandeur and intimacy sometimes intertwine within the same piece. This variety is rivaled only by its virtuosity. The “Hymn of Christ”, in which faith and love do not exclude questioning, is a genuine symphony, its lines of alexandrines, octosyllables, and odd meters forming, in a very orchestrated manner, the musical movements. Lamartine was never less an “amateur”; never more in command of his craft.
His inspiration also broadened. Still personal, it is often cosmic and rises toward the highest mysteries.
Lamartine’s faith is shaken; he fails to reconcile the existence of God with the reality of evil. Together with clericalism and irrationality, this scandal would one day turn him away from Catholicism. Even in the “Harmonies”, we hear these dissonances.
Nonetheless, in 1830, joy and adoration prevail. This joy is always religious. But if religion is the major inspiration of the Harmonies, it is not the only one. Politics dictate the “Invocation for the Greeks”. “Milly, or the Native Land” recalls memories of childhood…
This variety of themes reveals a wealth entirely different from that of the “Meditations”.
The “Poetic and Religious Harmonies”, through the diversity of their inspiration, represent the peak of Lamartine’s lyricism.
Very attractive copy, with full margins, preserved in its original wrappers, as issued, in a rare and sought-after condition.
A copy in wrappers, from the library of Mr. Eugène Paillet, is priced at 200 fr. in the Bulletin Morgand et Fatout, no. 12156.
No copy of the first edition preserved in its original wrappers has appeared on the public market since records began, more than 35 years ago (ABPC).
