Bouc emissaire

Paris, France : Imprimerie de la vie moderne, 1889. First Edition. Softcover. Very Good. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Signed by Author. Exceedingly scarce in the trade, there being only a single additional copy available. Handsome looking, skinny item in quarto format, one of only 105 copies ever printed, 100 printed on papier de Hollande, another five on papier Japon Imperial, but this being a copy with extraordinary association value, being a presentation copy from the author signed "Monsieur Henry Laport, respectueument, Saintpolroux." Is that Emile-Henri Laporte? Twenty-six pp., original printed paper wrappers in gate-fold manner, and with two very small chips missing from front paper wrapper. Prior bookseller's pencil markings up front, else clean. Covered also in glassine wraps, in Near Fine condition. The true First Edition is rare enough, but this presentation copy is also something of a proto-Surrealist work. The colophon reads, "Il A Ete De Ce Poeme: Cent exemplaires sur papier de Hollande. Cinq sur Japon Imperial. Cette Plaquette composee par France Ache a Ete Imprimerie En Juin Mil Huit Cent Quartre-Vingt-Neuf Sur Les Machines Alauzet Imprimerie De La Vie Moderne pour Saint-Paul Roux." A Wikipedia article about him noted that During the night of 22 to 23 June 1940, "a drunken German soldier invaded the manor, killed the family's faithful governess, raped [his] daughter Divine, and seriously injured her in the leg with a revolver bullet. Saint-Pol-Roux miraculously escaped death in the incident, but was later taken to hospital in Brest on October 14, where he died of a broken heart when he heard that the manor had burned down with his unpublished manuscripts inside." His surviving daughter Divine worked hard following Liberation to revive her father's life and works, but "Saint-Pol-Roux" has remained something of a forgotten poet in French cultural and literary history. A scarce item in lovely condition and with extreme association value.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.