La Chanson des Gueux
Paris: Edouard Pelletan, 1910. Théophile Steinlen. Limited Edition. 4to; 10 1/8 x7 3/4 inches (258 x 197 mm); half-title, limitation, title with publisher's device, 366 pp, including a glossary of slang (Glossaire argotique), 1, [8] advertisements, printed in black and red with additional colors for title page. 252 illustrations from works by Théophile Steinlen, engraved by Ducourtioux. Full red morocco binding by Vautrin (gilt stamped in dentelle); gilt fillets on covers, raised bands with gilt titles and decorations in compartments, wide gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, t.e.g.; original paper boards bound in; minimal rubbing on bottom corners and edges, internally clean and bright with a very faint water mark on bottom right corner not affecting texts or images, firmly bound.
Copy 218 of 340, numbered and signed by E. Pelletan on limitation page, one of 267 copies on Marais Mills hand-made paper.
[Carteret, IV, 341; Crauzat 643].
A very beautiful work by Jean Richepin (1849 – 1926), superbly illustrated by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), in an elegant contemporary binding.
Richepin was virtually unknown until the publication in 1876, of this volume of verse entitled La Chanson des Gueux, a declaration of war against the bourgeoisie. Richepin's outspokenness resulted in his being imprisoned and fined for "outrage to morals." The collection was republished, without the contentious pieces, which were published separately in Brussels in 1881. The book is divided into several parts: 1°/ Beggars of the Fields; 2°/ Beggars of Paris; 3°/ We Other Beggars; Epilogue: The End of the Beggars. A slang glossary concludes the work.
For this 1910 edition the illustrations were entrusted to the Swiss-born Steinlen who was politically engaged and often collaborated with anarchist and socialist press. "You will find Steinlen at the entrance to the construction site, at the workshop door, at the factory exit; he is everywhere where people gather, on days of celebration, riot or strike. (... He) succeeds in establishing the link which unites simple hearts, in showing the intimate cohesion of the group, of the theory, of the collection; no one possesses to the same degree as Steinlen the gift and the power to make the shiver of a common anguish run through an assembly (Roger Marx preface to "L'Oeuvre gravé et lithographié de Steinlen" Paris, Société de Propagation des Livres d'Art, 1913).
Condition: Near fine.
Item number: 1720
Price: $2,000.00
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