Œuvres complètes. - Œuvres diverses. - Le congrès de Vérone. - Essai sur la littérature anglaise. - Paradis perdu, de Milton.

First collected edition, partly original, by far the most important and most sought-after (cf. Clouzot), with Chateaubriand having revised and reworked a large part of his writings.
This set also contains in first edition several texts including Les Natchez, Le Dernier Abencérage, Le Voyage en Amérique, and Moïse (placed at the end of vol. XXII and often lacking).

Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece by Charles Thompson.

Bound in contemporary navy blue half shagreen, spines with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns. A few spots of foxing.

Together with these collected works, uniformly bound: a volume entitled Œuvres diverses (collecting several political pamphlets in first edition); Le Congrès de Vérone (2 vols., Delloye, 1838); Essai sur la littérature anglaise and Milton’s Paradise Lost (both Gosselin, 1839).

In the volume Œuvres diverses, important presentation inscription signed by François-René de Chateaubriand to Monsieur (Henri) Bayart on the half-title of La nouvelle proposition relative au bannissement de Charles X et de sa famille.

This inscription, dating from the writer’s final years, is addressed to Henri Bayart (1825–1892), godson of the Duchesse de Berry and brother of Sophie-Josèphe Bayart, a close friend of François-René and his wife. The Chateaubriands and the Bayart family formed bonds of friendship and business during the Hundred Days and remained close until the end of their lives. As staunch legitimists devoted to the Bourbon cause, they even attempted the impossible in seeking to have the writer appointed governor to the young Comte de Chambord, claimant to the French throne. When writing this inscription, probably around 1843, Chateaubriand was at the twilight of his political and literary life; close to the Comte de Chambord, then exiled in England, the Bayarts once again tried to intercede on his behalf, sending Henri Bayart, without success, to persuade the last Bourbon heir to invite the ageing writer into his circle.

A rare and fine set in uniform bindings, containing numerous first editions and enriched with an important presentation inscription.