SAMAIN (Albert). Aux Flancs du Vase. - Lot 172

SAMAIN (Albert). Aux Flancs du Vase. A very fine copy with huge margins of Samain's last collection; one of the reprinted copies reserved "for the XX". Paris, Mercure de France, 1898. Large in-4 (32 × 23 cm), half midnight blue morocco, smooth spine, untrimmed, covers preserved (Champs). Slight dent at foot of spine, probably due to a fall, not serious; a very fine copy, with wide margins. One of twenty copies reprinted in in-4 format on Rives tinted vellum for the company "Les XX". Each leaf of the collection is watermarked with their emblem, which is very chic. First edition. This was the last collection published during the lifetime of Albert Samain, whom the Symbolists lost in August 1900. "Myrtil and Palémone, children dear to shepherds, Pursue each other through the thick orchard grass, And make flee before them, in noisy joys, The solemn and stupid line of geese. Now Myrtil has vanquished Palemone in his games; How he embraces her, laughing, between his fiery arms, He shudders to feel, under the light canvases, Suddenly palpitating foreign forms; And the double roundness of naked breasts Gushes like beautiful fruit beneath her ingenuous fingers. The game stops... A mystery in his heart has just blossomed, And, grave, he caresses them and caresses them again." (Myrtil et Palémone, p. 71) Provenance: - Albert Natural (bookplate). - J.C.D. (bookplate, unidentified).