Intimate Notebook 1840-1841

London: W.H. Allen, 1967. A Fine unmarked copy with VG dustjacket which is not price clipped and has a repaired closed tear. 59 pages. Introduction, translation and notes by Francis Steegmuller. 'I go from hope to anxiety, from wild optimism to dreary negation; its rain and sun, but its a gilded cardboard sun and a misty rain with no storm.' These words were written by one of France's greatest writers, the future author of Madame Bovary, when he was 18 years old. At that time Gustave Flaubert was living with his parents in Rouen, dutifully following his father's wishes by studying to enter the Paris Law School. Fortunately, however, his true ambitions were distinctly literary, and it was to an ordinary schoolboy's copybook that Flaubert confided his earliest longings and most intimate thoughts. Passed on to Flaubert's niece as part of his literary estate, and presumed lost for over 80 years, in 1965 the text of this precious document was discovered in France, and published there for the first time. It was immediately greeted as an authentic candid portrait of Flaubert experiencing the first tremors of his future creativity. In this journal he reveals himself to be a romantic, fiercely self-doubting adolescent, simultaneously 'struggling with the flesh, swimming in philosophy, and trying to convince himself of his own faith in his literary vocation.' 2. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.