Collection: Littérature XIXe siècle

The 19th century is also, for the bibliophile, a demanding century: Belgian counterfeits are numerous, editions follow one another, and the identification of an original requires rigorous collation against reference repertoires, Vicaire for the entire century, Carteret for the end.

For the criteria that distinguish an original from a reprint or a counterfeit, see our article[what is a first edition].

Our collection covers the entire century, from Victor Hugo to Xavier Forneret and from Romanticism to Symbolism. Victor Hugo’s Cromwell (Ambroise Dupont et Cie, 1828): the play whose preface laid the foundations of romantic drama; first edition enriched with an autograph letter signed by Juliette Drouet, green half-calf binding signed P. Goy and C. Vilaine. Xavier Forneret’s Deux destinées (J. N. Barba, 1834): first edition printed in 150 copies at the author’s expense by a Burgundian writer ignored by his contemporaries, rediscovered in the 20th century by the surrealists, André Breton at their head; raspberry half-calf binding signed Devauchelle, wood-engraved vignette by Porret after Tony Johannot printed on China paper.

Arthur Rimbaud’s Une Saison en enfer (Alliance typographique, Brussels, 1873): the only collection Rimbaud had printed during his lifetime, at his own expense, before ceasing to write; first edition in original publisher’s cover, in a slipcase signed Elbel-libro. Émile Zola’s Germinal (Charpentier, 1885): the thirteenth volume of the Rougon-Macquart series, written after Zola himself had descended into the mines of the North; one of the numbered copies on Holland paper, carmine jansenist morocco binding signed Maylander.

Documentary enhancements hold a special place in our 19th-century selection: an attached autograph letter transforms the book into an archive piece. We systematically identify the recipients and the contexts of writing before any description.

Members of SLAM since our founding in 2011, we apply the union’s standards to every appraisal.