Le moine

Third edition of the French translation.
Small paper lacks to the second cover of the first volume, pen annotations in margins of some leaves, one annotation has been neatly cut from a leaf margin, some light foxing, manuscript gift inscription and printed stamp on the title pages of the volumes.
Full red paper board bindings, smooth spines slightly faded decorated with triple gilt fillets, black calf title and volume labels, all edges yellow, contemporary bindings.
Much has been written about this Gothic, dark, and oh so scandalous novel, but the sum of adjectives attributed to it cannot explain the lasting legacy of such a work; it is moreover the only one of its category to have achieved such renown, and for good reason: drawing from the mysteries of the Gothic novel (castles, cellars, incest, diabolical acts) Lewis created the novel of a man possessed by immense pride, whose perpetual demonstration of purity is a temptation for the Devil himself. It is therefore a battle of man, aspiring to virtue and purity, against the evil within him (sin, lust, murder, domination...); it is indeed the battle of every man, that of good and evil, for the Devil is merely a tempter, not the one responsible for evil. The monk is as much an allegory as a superb parable of the human condition. The radical modernity of this novel lies in the reader's position, as voyeuristic witness to a vertiginous and inexorable fall into evil by a fanatic of purity and sanctity.
Handsome copy in contemporary binding.