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152 ROCHESTER, John Wilmot, earl of. The Poetical Works. [Halifax:] The Haworth Press, 1933 A BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED EDITION First edition thus, number 32 of 50 copies printed on handmade paper and bound in niger morocco. This attractively bound and printed work is one of the finest modern editions of the great Restoration poet. Octavo. Original russet-coloured niger by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, blind tooled “hinge” motif around raised bands, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. With the original fleece- lined patterned paper slipcase. Portrait frontispiece of Rochester with tissue guard, wood-engraved dragon motif at colophon. Spine sunned, a couple of marks and scuffs to leather, light offsetting to margins of outer leaves, faint spots of foxing to paper edges, contents crisp and clean; an excellent copy. £1,000 [153734] 153 RODIN, Auguste (illus.); MIRBEAU, Octave . Le jardin des supplices. Vingt compositions originales de Auguste Rodin. Paris: Ambroise Vollard, 1902 First edition thus, one of 30 copies on papier de chine with an extra suite of the monochrome illustrations, providing a delicate alternative to the coloured
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plates; from a total edition of 200 copies. This copy is in a stunning binding by Charles Lanoë (1881–1959), a Parisian illustrator, designer, and binder who specialised in leather inlays. Octave Mirbeau’s controversial gothic and erotic novel was first published in 1899 at the height of the Dreyfus affair, whom Mirbeau supported, illustrated solely with a frontispiece by Rodin. In 1899, after a somewhat modest first edition, Rodin and Mirbeau (1848–1917) signed a contract with the picture dealer Ambroise Vollard for the publication of this luxury edition of Mirbeau’s novel with Rodin’s “powerful designs” (Ray 385). The work uses allegory to denounce French and British colonialism and to launch a ferocious attack on what Mirbeau saw as the corrupt morality of the state. “Rodin’s imagination was fired by the skilful
mix of sinister violence and voluptuousness in this novel. He concentrated almost exclusively on the heroine Clara and the theme of Sapphic love” (Musée Rodin). His collaboration on this work with Mirbeau, his loyal friend and fervent champion, sealed their continued friendship. The first edition of Mirbeau’s work in English was published in 1931 as Torture Garden . Its influence is still felt today – Europe’s largest fetish club, Torture Garden, established in London in 1990, is named after Mirbeau’s novel. Large quarto (322 × 246 mm). Finely bound in contemporary dark purple morocco by Charles Lanoë, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands to spine, red morocco doublures with title page illustration blocked in blind, red moiré silk free endpapers, paper guards loosely inserted, turn-ins ruled in gilt, secondary marbled paper endpapers, edges gilt, original
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