Horace. Pauline
Two rare first editions of Georges Sand bound at the time for the Duchess of Berry (1798-1870).
2 octavo volumes: I/ 2 leaves, IV pages; 311 pages; II/ 2 leaves, 346 pages; III/ 2 leaves, 346 pages; 2 leaves; Pauline: 2 leaves; 386 pages.
Half brown sheepskin with corners, spine with raised bands decorated with fillets, rolls, and gilt stamps, title and volume labels in green morocco, yellow edges.
Period binding made in Graz for the Duchess of Berry (1798-1870).
197 x 128 mm.
Sand, George. Horace [bound after volume III:] Pauline.
Paris, De Potter, 1842 and Paris, Maget et Comon, 1841.
First editions.
Two novels depicting life in the provinces and life in the capital. Horace is dedicated to Charles Duvernet, a childhood friend of George Sand. Pauline, which had first appeared in prepublication in La Revue des deux Mondes, is here grouped with the dialogue "proverbe" Les Mississippiens (published in Brussels in 1840).
Horace Dumontet, a young and not very wealthy provincial recently arrived in Paris to “study law”, meets Théophile, “a gentleman of very good stock, steeped in democratic doctrines”, who is finishing his medical studies. Théophile, the narrator, serves as the eyes and conscience of an author in search of justice and social equality. A political novel, a social novel, a love story set against the backdrop of contemporary history, Horace recounts the events of 1832 in a Paris shaken by the cholera epidemic, then by the riots of June 5 and 6, during which everyone responds and acts according to their nature and social codes. Fascinating from beginning to end, this novel comes alive with the questions and passions of its creator.
Pauline. First edition.
On the road leading her to Lyon, Laurence, a Parisian actress, makes an unplanned stop in the small town of her youth. There, she reunites with her childhood friend, Pauline, whose days are wholly devoted to her elderly blind mother and to needlework. What could the two young women possibly still have in common?
In this work, Pauline, the gentle provincial, is merely a red herring: the heroine is not the one who gives her name to the novel. Through crossed portraits combining both realist and romantic influences, George Sand blurs the boundaries to deliver a rehabilitation of the actress and a reflection on the emancipatory power of art.
Superb royal copy, exceptionally pure, preserved in its period binding intended for the private reading room of the Duchess of Berry in her château at Brunsee.
Its feminine and royal provenance gives this Sand a profound emotional and bibliophilic significance.
A copy of perfect purity.
