RICHEPIN (Jean). La Mer. - Lot 164

RICHEPIN (Jean). La Mer. Superb japonisante and thematic binding signed by Carayon, a great master of the genre who bound books for the great collectors of the time: Edmond de Goncourt, Octave Uzanne, Philippe Burty. Paris, Maurice Dreyfous, 1886. Large in-4 (29 × 24 cm), full textured green chagrin with wave pattern, 4 ribbed spine, first cover inlaid with a gilt and painted embossed leather composition of a lobster caught in a storm, surrounded by rocks, gilt edges, white and green silk damask endpapers and double endpapers, the former framed in green chagrin and stamped at the corners with the gilt monogram HH, covers and spine preserved (Carayon). Covers spotted, otherwise a very fine, untrimmed copy. First edition, one of 30 numbered copies on Hollande paper, after 10 Japon and 10 Whatman, of this edition of 500 copies "which will never be reprinted". Born in Algeria, member of several literary gangs, including the Vilains Bonshommes (legend has it that he separated the photographer Carjat... from Arthur Rimbaud during their famous 1871 brawl), a dockworker in Naples, and an actor alongside Sarah Bernhardt in 1883, this free electron of the 19th century and all-round traveler is best known for his "Chanson des gueux", published in 1876, which earned him a month's imprisonment in Sainte-Pélagie for indecent exposure. "La Mer" is Jean Richepin's fourth collection of poems. After "un dizain de sonnets en guise de préface", the book opens with Litanies de la Mer, followed by Marines, Matelotes, Les Gas, Étant de Quart and Grandes chansons, forming a body of 102 poems printed for the first time. Provenance: Henri Hirsch, with his monogram HH stamped on the corners of the endpapers, his bookplate stamped in full on the front cover, bearing the motto "Livre faict vivre". He had a fine collection of books from his time, most of them bound by Carayon in Japanese patterned leather.