Salon de 1845

Salon de 1845 [The Salon of 1845] Jules Labitte, Paris 1845, 115 x 185 mm (4 1/2 x 7 1/4 ”), later Bradel cloth
The very rare and very sought-after first edition (cf. Clouzot) published under the name Baudelaire Dufaÿs and which was printed in only 500 copies, most destroyed by the poet according to Champfleury.
As a real literary opening, this first work of Baudelaire is much more than an exhibition report. Under the auspices of Diderot and his famous Salons, the young and ambitious author wishes to offer to his contemporaries his own aesthetic and poetic manifesto, announcing by substitution his own advent.
“Mr. Delacroix is undoubtedly the most original painter of old and modern times”. The favorite themes and the unique style of the poet emerges on each page, eulogistic and virulent. Thus regarding Delacroix: “On the top right, a small piece of sky or rock – something blue – Madeleine's eyes are closed, her mouth is slack and languid, her hair loosened. No one, except if you see her, can imagine how the artist has placed intimate, mysterious and romantic poetry into this sole head.” Regarding Horace Vernet, the words are sharper: “This African painting is cooler than a beautiful winter day. Everything is so desperately white and bright”.
Painting is the main passion of Baudelaire and it forges his writing. It was the theme of this first publication he wished resounding. Anticipating a success he had no doubt about, he even had printed on the lower cover a list of essays about painting and artists allegedly “in the press” and “appearing soon” that would never, in fact, be published.
The failure of this inaugural work which remained unnoticed, and the lukewarm reviews were a tremendous disappointment for the poet. On 30 June 1945, hardy one month and a half after his opuscule was published, Baudelaire wrote a letter to his legal counsel in which he announced his suicide: “I am killing myself because I am useless to others, and dangerous for myself. I believe and hope myself immortal.” With the Salon de 1846, Baudelaire reiterated his artistic criticism. Nonetheless, this time, the lower cover had no list of new aesthetic discourses to be published, but rather works that related to his principal ambition: his poetry.
A handsome copy, almost without spotting, of Baudelaire's first book.