La Vie littéraire
Signed presentation inscriptions on each volume: “à Madame la Comtesse de Martel, hommage très respectueux du plus humble de ses admirateurs” (vols. 1 and 3); “à Madame la Ctsse de Martel, très respectueusement et très affectueusement”; “à Madame la Comtesse de Martel avec mes respects charmés.”
Accompanied by a fifth volume of articles, La Vie littéraire, published posthumously by Calmann-Lévy in the “Le Zodiaque” series in 1949.
1 vol. (120 x 190 mm), 350 pp., [2] and 1 leaf. In wrappers.
“By the number and variety of its subjects, La Vie littéraire constitutes a most interesting repository of opinions,” among them that of the very woman to whom these volumes are dedicated: Gyp, born Comtesse de Martel (1849–1932), the last of the Mirabeau line, of which she was a great-granddaughter. She enjoyed a prolific literary career, though her many publications have since fallen into obscurity. France stayed several times at her holiday home in Lion-sur-Mer and was also a regular at her Neuilly salon, frequented by numerous artists and writers, including Degas, Proust, Montesquiou and Daudet.
A charming copy in contemporary binding, bearing the dedicatee’s monogram.
Bound by Paul Vié, one of Anatole France’s two favorite binders (along with Raparlier). Vié’s workshop was established at 1 rue Princesse in Paris and closed in 1907.