Contes de la chaumière

Mirbeau, Octave, 1848-1917

Contes de la chaumière

Par Octave Mirbeau; avec deux eaux-fortes de J.-F. Raffaëlli

Paris

G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle, Éditeurs

Petite Bibliothèque-Charpentier

Imprimerie de Charles Hérissey, Évreux

1894

Paris: G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle, Éditeurs, 1894

French

The edition includes 25 numbered copies on papier de Hollande and 10 copies on papier de Chine; the described copy bears no visible numbering and probably belongs to the ordinary issue

346 pages

2 etchings by J.-F. Raffaëlli

Duodecimo (12º)

12.4 × 8.5 cm

Fine mechanical laid paper from the late nineteenth century; edition partly printed on special Hollande and Chine papers; the described copy probably belongs to the ordinary issue

Fine mechanical laid pattern visible under transmitted light; no identifiable watermarks observed

French serif typography; clear and homogeneous printing

Half leather with protective slipcase

Hazel-brown leather; multicoloured marbled paper sides

Spine with gilt fillets and sprays and a floral ornament; top edge gilt; brightly coloured marbled endpapers

Smooth brown leather spine with author "O. Mirbeau" and title in gilt

Collection of rural and genre tales by Octave Mirbeau, centred on French peasant life, human emotions, poverty, death and social tensions, written with naturalist sensitivity and social criticism

First edition in book form under this title (1894), in the Petite Bibliothèque-Charpentier: it gathers ten of the Lettres de ma chaumière (1885) and four previously unpublished tales

Includes two original etchings by J.-F. Raffaëlli

Preserves protective slipcase covered in marbled paper

Engraved bookplate "Adrienne her Book", with a quatrain from FitzGerald's Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Later library binding; top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed (deckle edges)

Nineteenth-century French literature

French naturalism; rural tales; social criticism; French peasantry; short fiction; French illustration; Octave Mirbeau

1226

Very good; complete copy; solid binding; slight stains and scattered foxing on some leaves; slipcase rubbed at the edges, with a small tear at the bottom

Biblioteca de Alfred Gallart i Genis

Complete, with both etchings by Raffaëlli; top edge gilt, untrimmed edges; with slipcase; earlier provenance: Adrienne's bookplate