FROM CENTAUR TO CROSS: THE UNPUBLISHED CORRESPONDENCE & THE CENTAUR; Translated by H. Bedford-Jones. Introduction and Notes by Gilbert Chinard
New York: Covici, Friede, Publishers, 1929. First American edition, with the bookplate of the translator on the front pastedown and his signed manuscript note on the front endpaper "Two copies uncut and bound by hand, of which this is No. I / Paris 1929 / A Little Gift for the Shining Lady". 8vo. (6), 213, (1) pp. Correspondence in French and English on facing pages; "The Centaur" is in English. Guerin's "death-bed letter" (he actually died several years later), dictated to his friend Barbey d'Aurevilly and signed by Guerin, is affixed to an internal page in its chronological sequence. Maurice de Guerin (1810-1839) was a French Romantic poet who achieved cultish admiration as one of the earliest practitioners of the poem in prose; with his friend Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808-1889), he would have a decisive impact on the later "Decadent" writers. Very good untrimmed copy. Three-quarter black morocco, marbled boards and endpapers, gilt spine title, top edge gilt. (#6162). Item #57165
Price: $1,750.00