VERLAINE (Paul) - RANFT (Richard). Biblio-sonnets. Unpublish - Lot 297

VERLAINE (Paul) - RANFT (Richard). Biblio-sonnets. Unpublished poems. Illustrations by Richard Ranft. An exceptional copy with corrected proofs of an edition that Pierre Dauze prepared after Verlaine's death, before he himself died, and which therefore never appeared. Paris, H. Floury, 1913. In-8 (260x170mm), full jansenist orange morocco, 5-ribbed spine, gilt headband, green moiré silk endpapers and counter-guards, the insides of the boards broadly framed with 5 gilt fillets, pink covers and spine preserved, lined slipcase (Louis Gilbert). 5ff. - 66pp. - 3ff. [followed by] 33ff. proofs. Damage to head cover, affecting the jaws at the top. First edition. Superbly illustrated with 14 headpieces and 13 woodcuts by Richard Ranft (1862-1931), a Swiss painter who frequented Courbet's studio and the Salon des Cent. He was responsible for several illustrated works for bibliophiles, published by Piazza, Floury and Ollendorff. One of 100 numbered copies on Arches laid paper, out of a total edition of 111. Bound in fine, 33ff. of in-12 wood pulp paper, forming the corrected proofs of an edition of the same work planned a few years earlier by Pierre Dauze, but interrupted by the latter's death. Floury recovered these proofs from Verlaine's manuscripts, and printed the 1913 edition. These very important proofs do not appear to be known. On two occasions, we find a wet stamp in violet monogrammed JB and dated October 20 and 21, 1911. Corrections are made in violet pen, comments in blue pencil, and sticky notes containing "notes pour l'éditeur" are pasted on some pages, suggesting that the text revision was subcontracted by the publisher. In 1895, Pierre Dauze - bibliophile, founder of the "Revue biblio-iconographique" and editor of "L'Almanach du bibliophile" - commissioned Paul Verlaine to write a series of 24 sonnets on bibliophilic themes; he paid him 10 francs each, and planned a limited-edition publication. Verlaine, very ill and uninspired, wrote 13 sonnets before his death in 1896. Pierre Dauze filled the gap by enclosing at the head of the volume the letters received from the poet during their preparatory correspondence.