A small restoration at the head of the back.
Precious autograph signed by Blaise Cendrars: "To Ungaretti with the good memory of Blaise Cendrars."
Copies inscribed by the author, i.e. a handwritten dedication to a close friend. As moving accounts of the genesis of the book and the writer's links with the people of his time, inscriptions are a unique record of the author's life.
First edition, of which only 500 copies were issued. With an etched frontispiece portrait of Théophile Gautier by Emile Thérond.
With a substantial prefatory letter by Victor Hugo.
Red morocco binding, gilt date at the foot of spine, marbled endpapers, Baudelairian ex-libris from Renée Cortot's collection glued on the first endpaper, wrappers preserved, top edge gilt.
Pale foxing affecting the first and last leaves, beautiful copy perfectly set.
Rare handwritten inscription signed by Charles Baudelaire: “ à mon ami Paul Meurice. Ch. Baudelaire. ” (“To my friend Paul Meurice. Ch. Baudelaire.”)
An autograph ex-dono slip by Victor Hugo, addressed to Paul Meurice, has been added to this copy by ourselves and mounted on a guard. This slip, which was doubtless never used, had nevertheless been prepared, along with several others, by Victor Hugo in order to present his friend with a copy of his works published in Paris during his exile. If History did not allow Hugo to send this volume to Meurice, this presentation note, hitherto unused, could not, in our view, be more fittingly associated.
Provenance: Paul Meurice, then Alfred and Renée Cortot.