Les Autels de la peur

Name: Les Autels de la peur
SKU: 27794
Author: Anatole France

Paris, s.é., (March 11) 1885.

1 vol. (135 x 205 mm) of 2 f., 84 p., [2] and 2 f. Half black morocco with bands, gilt title, date gilt at foot, top edge gilt, original wrappers and spine preserved (binding signed by Alix).

First edition. Limited to 100 copies. One of 65 copies on vergé ancien paper (no. 49).

This tale evokes the revolutionary period, drawing on contemporary memoirists and gathering famous phrases here and there, such as André Chénier’s panicked remark that the altars of the fatherland would one day give way to the “altars of fear.” First published in serial form in Le Journal des Débats in 1884, it is a sketch for a more substantial work to come, Les Dieux ont soif, which would plunge readers into the tumultuous hours of the French Revolution and would be published in 1912. A convinced Republican, Anatole France nonetheless always denounced the crimes of the Revolution: a lesson in tolerance for all those who might be tempted by fanaticism.

This limited, bibliophile-oriented edition is the only edition in book form published during Anatole France’s lifetime.

#27794

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