FULLY IN FRENCH.
RARE BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED OCTAVE UZANNE BOOK IN VERY GOOD CONDITION, WITH A LAID-IN HANDWRITTEN, DATED, AND SIGNED NOTE BY AUTHOR OCTAVE UZANNE ON FINE PAPER WHICH HAS HIS BOOKPLATE ETCHED ONTO IT, AND A BONUS!! WHICH IS, ONE OF THE PLATES, A COLOR ART PLATE BY FELICIEN ROPS APPEARS TO ALSO BE HAND-SIGNED BY FELICIEN ROPS!
THE BOOK:
Octave Uzanne was a 19th-century French bibliophile, writer, publisher, and journalist. He is noted for his literary research on the authors of the 18th century. He published many previously unpublished works by authors including Paradis Moncrif, Benserade, Caylus, Besenval, the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire. One of the topics his research focused on was the discussion of fashion and femininity in the French fin-de-siècle. This took the form of monographs and works including the book in this listing, Son Altesse la Femme. This translates to, Her Highness The Woman. Bibliophilic Uzanne's fascination with women and fashion was tinged with an ambivalence that saw him revering and reviling his subject. This work seeks to trace the history of French women. It begins ominously with the chapter, Le Vray Mirouer de Sorcellerie (The True Mirror of Witchcraft), and ends with an equally troubling La Parisienne Moderne, étude de physiologie spéciale et d'Attraction passionelle (The Modern Parisian, study of special physiology and passionate attraction).
This is a FIRST EDITION, published in 1885 by A. Quantin of Paris. As found, the textblock and interior pages were and are PRISTINE, very solidly bound with no foxing and just a tiny bit of age-toning around the edges. There are 11 tissue-protected color plates on thick paper, the tissue itself is fine. The 11th plate, adjacent to page 282, is drawn by Félicien Rops, AND APPEARS TO BE HAND-SIGNED BY ROPS - more on that below. The exterior and few endpapers, however, were not in good condition. The boards were clean but mostly detached. The marble endpapers were secured into the textblock by a previous owner with the use of blue masking tape. The front and rear illustrated pages, which were located a few pages into the book (which was a title page vignette) and a few pages before the end of the book, were sliced in half - see listing photo of the front title page vignette. The boards were functionally reattached by an individual proficient in book repair, and the exterior leather cleaned and polished. The boards and 3/4 leather look and feel great. There was further reinforcement of the endpapers with white bookbinding tape. See listing photos for examples of these tape repairs. With these board and endpaper issues functionally resolved, the book is now solidly bound and beautiful. The pages have gilt tops with 3 attached functional ribbons. 312 pages ending with the Table of Contents.
THE LAID-IN NOTE:
The note is written on fine paper which is folded in half and glued to the page near the spine. It could possibly be removed. The image is UZANNE'S PERSONAL BOOKPLATE AND IT IS ETCHED ON THE PAPER (as indicated by its indentation around the image)
The note, in French:
Le 6 VII 02 (6/7/02 or July 6, 1902)
Félicien Rops ex libris (underlined legend under image)
Cher Monsieur
M. Guérin sur lequel vous me demandez des renseignements est un artiste mort vers 1840 et qui n’a jamais pensé à faire des ex-libris.
C’était un disciple du grand peintre David, un dessinateur de nu très vigoreux; j’ai trouvé de lui un dessin caracteristique et inédit; je me le suis approprié comme ex libris en le faisant graver et en y joignant une devise.
C’est tout ce que je peux vous dire
Mes remerciements, cher monsieur, pour votre envoi.
Croyez à mes sentiments de meilleurs.
My Best Translation in English:
Dear Sir
Mr. Guérin about whom you are asking me for information is an artist who died around 1840 and who never thought of making bookplates.
He was a disciple of the great painter David, a very vigorous nude artist; I found a characteristic and unpublished drawing of him; I appropriated it as a bookplate by having it engraved and attaching a motto.
That's all I can tell you.
My thanks, dear sir, for your sending.
Believe my best feelings.
(Octave Uzanne signature)
The note is to an individual who appeared to have had questions about bookplates and whether “Mr. Guérin” was the artist who did a specific bookplate. This artist was likely, Pierre-Narcisse, baron Guérin (13 March 1774 – 6 July 1833), who was a French painter born in Paris. He was a disciple of a “great painter David”. A brief bio of Guérin from the internet identifies this mentor, David. This bio of Guérin: “He was one of the most successful French artists of his time, but his reputation did not long survive his death. In 1797 he won the Prix de Rome, and his later distinctions included becoming director of the French Academy in Rome in 1822 and being created a baron in 1829. His style was derived mainly from J.-L. David (who said, ‘I think he has been eavesdropping at the door of my studio’), but his scenes from classical history and mythology are less severe and more stagy.”
I don’t quite get the rest of the note about an unpublished drawing, but I have found that the engraved image on this note paper was INDEED THE BOOKPLATE OF OCTAVE UZANNE AND IT WAS DRAWN BY ARTIST Félicien Rops. I have found this same bookplate in an online article on ornate antique bookplates - a listing photo shows this bookplate again with a legend in German that identifies the bookplate as that of Octave Uzanne drawn by Felicien Rops, and Uzanne also inked information within the bookplate. This online article was on a website with the header, “ { feuilleton } journal by artist and designer John Coulthart”. It was from a blog/article dated Oct 19, 2019, and the title of the blog was, Exlibris (Bucheignerzeichen), translated as, Ex libris (book owner’s mark).
ON THE SIGNED PLATE BY FELICIEN ROPS:
“Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in intaglio (etching and aquatint). Although not well known to the general public, Rops was greatly respected by his peers and actively pursued and celebrated as an illustrator by the publishers, authors, and poets of his time. He provided frontispieces and illustrations for Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Charles Baudelaire, Charles De Coster, Théophile Gautier, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stéphane Mallarmé, Joséphin Péladan, Paul Verlaine, Voltaire, and many others. Best known today for his prints and drawings illustrating erotic and occult literature of the period, he also produced oil paintings including landscapes, seascapes, and occasional genre paintings. Rops is recognized as a pioneer of Belgian comics” (from online)
The 11th plate of the book is by Félicien Rops and APPEARS TO BE HAND-SIGNED BY FELICIEN ROPS!! His signature is also in the plate, with the larger handwritten signature outside the plate. I've showed a photo close-up showing these outside and inside signatures, and a final listing photo shows a picture of the last name through a loop. Hopefully this can be informative with regard to the authenticity of the autograph.
A VERY SPECIAL BOOK ITSELF, MADE MORE SPECIAL BY A HANDWRITTEN SIGNED NOTE BY OCTAVE UZANNE, AND ALSO WITH LOOKS LIKE A HANDWRITTEN SIGNED PLATED BY BELGIAN ARTIST FELICIEN ROPS.
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