Spirite: Collection of Foreign Authors No. III
1877
$150.00
Guaranteed as described. Shipped insured.
Stock no. UN-0015
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1877. First edition of this type, likely first translated American edition. Octavo. Publisher's full cloth stamped and ruled in black, stamped in gilt on spine. 214. Edge-wear on cloth, faint staining on cloth, cloth corners starting, sun fading on spine. A good copy.
The novel is a supernatural story based on a woman who dies while she is in love with a man before he knew of her existence. It explores themes of obsession, spiritual love, and reunion in the afterlife.
In 1868 Gautier was appointed as royal librarian to Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, granting him entry into the court of Napoleon III. He was the leader of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and worked alongside prominent artists like Gustave Doré. "Posterity will judge him to be one of the masters of writing, not only in France but in Europe." Charles Baudelaire