Mademoiselle De Maupin. A Romance of Love and Passion

Paris, London and New York: Societe Des Beaux-Arts, 1912. One of the most popular novels by French literatiste Theophile Gautier (1811-1872). A romance, with a reputation as gentle erotica. (Wikipedia says "Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) In September 1833, Gautier was solicited to write a historical romance based on the life of French opera star Mlle Maupin, who was a first-rate swordswoman and often went about disguised as a man. Originally, the story was to be about the historical la Maupin, who set fire to a convent for the love of another woman, but later retired to a convent herself, shortly before dying in her thirties. Gautier instead turned the plot into a simple love triangle between a man, d'Albert, and his mistress, Rosette, who both fall in love with Madelaine de Maupin, who is disguised as a man named Théodore. The message behind Gautier's version of the infamous legend is the fundamental pessimism about the human identity, and perhaps the entire Romantic age. The novel consists of seventeen chapters, most in the form of letters written by d'Albert or Madelaine. Most critics focus on the preface of the novel, which preached about Art for art's sake through its dictum that "everything useful is ugly.") This is a Very Good copy o a Later Printing of the First Edition Thus. Maroon cloth binding with gilt lettering and the French fleur on the cover. Illustrated by Toudouze (who was a winner of the Prix de Rome). Clean text; 366 pages. Light soil; darkened spine. No dustjacket. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Later Printing.. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Toudouze.