Remy de Gourmont / Henry Chapront - Les Chevaux de Diomède. [Exemplaire de Paul Léautaud] - 1921

New edition of Remy de Gourmont's novel, with a strictly limited print run. One of the rare 10 copies reserved for the publisher, this one for Mr. Paul Léautaud, with the signature of René-Louis Doyon on the certificate.

Decorated with a symbolist frontispiece carved in wood in yellow and black by Henry Chapront.

Stapled, with an illustrated cover featuring an engraved vignette reproducing the frontispiece.
In good condition despite signs of handling on the cover and the creased back (small tear at the foot of the spine). Interior clean and fresh. A fine copy.

The hero of this sensual novel is Diomède, 'a dilettante who tastes delicate pleasures.' He is not devoid of tenderness, but at the same time, he fears great passion and everything related to it. Seduced by Néobelle and her freshness as an emancipated young girl, he introduces her to love but feels humiliated by how, in the end, she thwarts his plans' (Karl D. Uitti, La passion littéraire de Remy de Gourmont, p. 173). In the final lines of the novel, Diomède, having learned of Néobelle's marriage, curses the intellect that had drawn the young girl to him: 'Be cursed, Thought, creator of everything, but a murderous creator, clumsy mother who has never given birth to beings whose shoulders are the stepping stone of chance and whose eyes are the mockery of life'.

Published in the collection 'Les Chefs d’œuvre,' La Connaissance, in Paris (1921), of which it is the 26th title.

Remy de Gourmont / Henry Chapront
The Horses of Diomedes
Paris, La Connaissance, 1921
in-8 (18.5 x 12.5 cm); 211 pages