One of 1,100 copies on Bouffant Alizé Or paper, this copy no. 406 — the only paper used.
This edition “is the facsimile produced by Normandie Roto Impression s.a.s., Maîtres Imprimeurs at Lonrai (Communauté Urbaine d’Alençon) in June 2007 from the copy held by the Bibliothèque d’Alençon,” issued to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Les Fleurs du Mal. It reproduces the characteristics of the first-printing copies, allowing the volume to be examined in its original state at modest cost.
The edition includes the well-known misprints found throughout the entire first printing:
“Feurs” instead of “Fleurs” in the running head on pp. 31 and 108; page 45 paginated as 44, and so on — as well as the rarer errors that were corrected during the course of printing:
In the notice (on the page facing the title page):
– “Les Éditeurs,” with an accent that was later dropped,
– a wide space before the comma following “Ils poursuivront,”
– “toutes contrefaçons et toutes traductions,” which later became “toutes contrefaçons et traductions,”
– “Les traités,” not yet capitalized (later “Traités”).
Similarly, on the title page, the reference to Agrippa d’Aubigné’s text ends without a final period and without a closing parenthesis after “Les Tragiques, liv. III.”
A fine copy, uncut, in as-new condition.