The Tales of Guy De Maupassant

Norwalk Connecticut: Easton Press, 1977. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ in. - 9¾ in.Tall. Gunter Bohmer. 472 pages Fine condition.Red leather Bound. First Printing, accented in 22kt gold. Four ribs spine. illustrations by Gunter Bohmer Translations By Lafcadio Hearn and Other, Choosen & With an Introduction By Justin O'Brien. Collector's Edition. Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at the château de Miromesnil, near Dieppe in the Seine-Inférieure (now Seine-Maritime) department. He was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, both from prosperous bourgeois families. When Maupassant was eleven and his brother Hervé was five, his mother, an independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace to obtain a legal separation from her husband. After the separation, Le Poittevin kept her two sons, the elder Guy and younger Hervé. With the father's absence, Maupassant's mother became the most influential figure in the young boy's life. She was an exceptionally well read woman and was very fond of classical literature, especially Shakespeare. Until the age of thirteen, Guy happily lived with his mother, to whom he was deeply devoted, at Étretat, in the Villa des Verguies, where, between the sea and the luxuriant countryside, he grew very fond of fishing and outdoor activities. At age thirteen, he was sent to a small seminary near Rouen for classical studies. In October 1868, at the age of 18, he saved the famous poet Algernon Charles Swinburne from drowning off the coast of Étretat at Normandy.As he entered junior high school, he met the great author Gustave Flaubert. He first entered a seminary at Yvetot, but deliberately got himself expelled. From his early education he retained a marked hostility to religion. Then he was sent to the Lycée Pierre-Corneille in Rouen where he proved a good scholar indulging in poetry and taking a prominent part in theatricals.