Potiron
Paris, Librairie Marpon & Flammarion, (1890).
1 vol. (125 x 190 mm) of [2] f., 282 p., [1] and 1 f. Half red morocco with corners, spine with raised bands, gilt title, gilt fillets on covers, gilt top edge, original wrappers and spine preserved (binding signed by Vermorel).
First edition.
One of the first 10 copies on Hollande paper.
Color wrappers illustrated by Steinlen, bound in at front.
One of the first 10 copies on Hollande paper.
Color wrappers illustrated by Steinlen, bound in at front.
While Lucien Descaves’s anti-military polemic Sous-offs had just escaped censorship thanks to a wave of literary protest in which Courteline took part, Potiron was published without any trouble for its author. The dismissal of the Sous-offs case had evidently helped. Written in the vein of Gaîtés de l’escadron, which had already produced Le Train de 8h47, the story of the reservist Potiron is nonetheless far from flattering to the army uniform!
From the library of Marcel de Merre (bookplate).
A fine copy, apart from some scattered foxing.
#5486
Back