POE, Edgar Allan (1809-1849). Histoires extraordinaires … nouvelle édition, translated by Charles Baudelaire. Paris: Michel Lévy Frères, 1857.
12° (177 x 107mm). With half-title and contents leaf at end. (Some browning.) Contemporary green morocco for Madame Sabatier by Petit with her ‘Vis superba formae’ device on right-hand corner of upper cover, spine in six compartments with raised bands, directly lettered in two, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges, (spine faded, some soiling on covers, corners rubbed), housed in a red morocco box by Loutrel. Provenance: presentation copy to Madame Sabatier (1822-1890; inscribed to her from the translator, Charles Baudelaire, in pencil at head of half-title) – Daniel Sicklès (sale Paris, 20-21 April 1989, lot 18) -- Louis de Sadeleer (booklabel).
BAUDELAIRE'S CELEBRATED FRENCH TRANSLATION OF EDGAR ALLAN POE: A MARVELLOUS PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED TO HIS MUSE, THE 'PRÉSIDENTE' APOLLONIE SABATIER, ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONS OF LES FLEURS DU MAL.
This third edition was published in March 1857 together with the first edition of the Nouvelles Histoires Extraordinaires; i.e. less than four months before Les Fleurs du Mal was launched. The text was corrected by the poet.
'A MADAME A. SABATIER, CH. BAUDELAIRE.' Nicknamed 'La Présidente' by Théophile Gautier, Aglaée Apollonie Sabatier held a famous literary salon where one could meet not only Baudelaire and Gautier, but also Flaubert, Maxime Du Camp, the painters Meissonier, Gustave Ricard and Charles Jalabert, the sculptors Préault and Christophe, or the composer Ernest Reyer. Fascinated by her, Baudelaire sent her anonymous letters and poems; he confessed that 9 poems of the Fleurs du Mal were written for her. They became lovers for a single night at the end of August 1857. In spite of the obvious deception which such a short adventure implies and which is confirmed by the correspondence, their relations remained friendly. Madame Sabatier commissioned this binding from her regular binder, Petit; her gilt stamp appears on the upper side with her device Vis Superba Formae, chosen by Théophile Gautier in Les Baisers by Jean Second. As is true of all books from her library, the spine of this copy is faded.
Graham, Passages d'Encre, no. 12: 'Des corrections nombreuses furent apportées sur la présente édition.'