Rome, Naples et Florence
“I have never met a people so suited to my soul. When I am with the Milanese, and I speak Milanese, I forget that men are wicked.”
First edition of this “rare and important work” by Stendhal.
An exceptional copy in original wrappers, as issued.
Octavo, 366 pp., (1 leaf); copy preserved in its original wrappers, uncut, housed in a long-grain red morocco-backed folder and slipcase. Original period wrappers.
212 x 137 mm.
Stendhal. Rome, Naples and Florence, in 1817.
Paris, Delaunay, Pelicier, 1817.
Rare first edition.
“Rare” (Clouzot, 256).
“Rare and important work” (Carteret, II, 346).
The result of the author's various travels in Italy, this book is the first work signed with the name Stendhal, the pseudonym to which he would confer such distinction (Martineau).
For the first time, H. Beyle used the Germanic-sounding pseudonym under whose protection he could, as a “hussar of liberty,” multiply his criticisms of the unfortunate consequences of the Congress of Vienna for Italy's fate (Stendhal and Europe, catalogue of the exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale, 1983, no. 162).
The preface was not reproduced in later editions.
“A work Stendhal published in 1817; the author, ‘cavalry officer,’ who had ceased to consider himself French since 1814, here adopts the pseudonym under which he was to become famous. The narrative follows the fictional itinerary of a journey the author supposedly made in 1816 and 1817, from Milan to Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and later from Rome to Florence, Bologna, Ancona, Padua, Venice, and Milan. In reality, Beyle saw Padua and Venice in 1813 and in 1815… Italy at that time allowed the young author to believe he was on the threshold of happiness: the magnificent flourishing of the arts, the lightness and, at the same time, the absolute character of sentiments, hatred or love, the habits of a gallant and vibrant society made him intensely attentive to the present and curious about this centuries-old civilization. Rome, Naples, and Florence seemed to him the three cities of the spirit, for the freedom of conversations, the activity of painters and musicians, and the beauty of the women.” (Dictionnaire des Œuvres).
Exceptionally fine copy, very clean, preserved in its original wrappers, as issued.
