Algernon Swinburne / Francis Vielé-Griffin - Laus Veneris [1/300 sur vergé] - 1933

First edition of the French translation by Francis Viélé-Griffin, published in 1933 and limited to only 300 copies. This is one of 233 copies on laid paper.

Paperback with folded cover, printed cover in three tones, blue cloth-covered slipcase and box, with pasted-on title piece.

A charming copy in very good condition. Slipcase and cover slightly faded. Cover a little yellowed. Interior fresh and clean, with very minor foxing at the hinge.

Algernon Charles Swinburne was a British poet born in Grosvenor Place, London, on April 5, 1837, and died in the same city on April 10, 1909 (aged 72). He invented the roundel, a form derived from the rondeau, and contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1903 to 1907 and again in 1909.

Swinburne's poetry caused a scandal in the Victorian era because of its recurring references to sadomasochism, lesbianism, suicide, and the anti-religious sentiments it conveyed. He probably professed vice more than he practiced it, a fact that Oscar Wilde mocked, Swinburne more likely suffering from algolagnia.

Algernon Charles SWINBURNE
Francis VIELÉ-GRIFFIN
Laus Veneris
Mercure de France, Paris 1933
in-16 (11.50 x 17.50)
107pp