Angèle

Rare first edition, illustrated with a very handsome etched frontispiece by Célestin Nanteuil. Charpentier catalogue at rear of 4 pages.
Half bronze-gilt percaline binding with corners signed U. Zaugg ca 1880. Smooth spine. Black glazed shagreen title-label. Poppy-patterned paper on gold ground. Top edge gilt. Binding executed on uncut wrappers. Original jonquil covers preserved. Scattered browning. Traces of rubbing to headcaps.
Joseph Dumas bookplate designed and engraved by Henry André (1922) depicting a ruined castle on a promontory within a Gothic altarpiece. Joseph Dumas: resistance fighter, deputy of the Seine and great collector of romantic works.
Handsome copy attractively bound.
The play narrates the dark machinations of a young social climber who impregnated Angèle through political calculation. The play refers particularly to the July Revolution of 1830.