Journal des Goncourt - Mémoires de la vie littéraire - Exemplaire de Frédéric Masson

First edition on ordinary paper for each of the volumes.
Bradel bindings in full cherry percaline, smooth spines decorated with a central gilt floral motif, dates and double gilt fillets at the tails, navy blue shagreen title pieces, covers preserved, contemporary bindings signed by Durvand.
Precious autograph presentation inscription signed by Edmond de Goncourt, in each volume, to the Napoleonic historian Frédéric Masson, cousin by marriage of the Goncourt brothers. A republican fascinated by the Revolution in his youth, he became a staunch Bonapartist after the defeat of 1870. In 1874, Edmond de Goncourt witnessed his marriage to Marguerite Cottin, daughter of Auguste Cottin, who opened to him the archives of the imperial family. A historian and collector, he was elected to the Académie française on 18 June 1903. Their correspondence, published in the Cahiers Jules et Edmond de Goncourt, sheds light on the nature of their relationship. Edmond guided the young man and directed him toward literature. Frédéric Masson, an erudite bibliophile, informed Edmond about his library, responded to the Goncourt brothers’ requests for information, and contributed both to the preparation of Edmond’s historical works and to the enrichment of his re-editions. In 1870, in volume IV of the Journal, Goncourt described the young Frédéric Masson, then aged 23: "Ce soir, je rencontre le jeune Frédéric Masson, enterré dans sa capote de mobile. Lui, qui datait les lettres qu'il m'écrivait du collège, des brumaire et des messidor du calendrier républicain, je le trouve fort dégrisé de la république, des républicains, des soldats démocrates. Il se plaint que, lorsqu'il marchait avec Goubie en avant, ses frères n'emboîtaient point le pas. Et de sa mauvaise humeur contre le présent, un peu remonte à 89, et amène une baisse sensible de son lyrique enthousiasme d'autrefois pour la première république. Il est un symptôme. Je suis persuadé que beaucoup de jeunes gens ayant en eux-mêmes semblablement à Masson un grain d'exaltation révolutionnaire, sont en train de devenir des réactionnaires."
Rare and very handsome set, uniformly bound at the time, complete in 9 volumes and enriched with significant autograph inscriptions by Edmond de Goncourt in each volume.