Alphonse Daudet / Albert Dubout (ill.) - L'ARLÉSIENNE - 1960

DAUDET (Alphonse). L'Arlésienne. Illustrations by Dubout. Paris, Imprimerie Nationale — André Sauret, publisher, 1960. 1 volume in-4, 160 pp., loose sheets under a dust wrapper with flaps, publisher's case and slipcase in havana-coloured bookcloth.

Edition limited to 980 numbered copies, this being one of the 100 copies numbered of the large-velin-Arches edition containing a suite in black.

Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897), born in Nîmes, remains one of the masters of Provençal literature of the second half of the 19th century. L'Arlésienne, first published in 1866 in Les Lettres de mon moulin, is the pared-down tale of an impossible love: that of the young Frédéri for a woman from Arles who never appears in the narration, a phantom presence whose very absence consumes the hero. Brought to the stage in 1872 with music by Georges Bizet (1838–1875), the work acquired a musical and symbolic dimension that made it one of the major texts of the French southern imaginary.

This volume constitutes a prestige edition, handmade in the so-called “Romain du Roi” typefaces, cast in 1699 by Philippe Grandjean (1666–1714) on the order of Louis XIV — royal typography reserved for the Imprimerie Nationale. The illustrations are the work of Albert Dubout (1905–1976), Marseille caricaturist and illustrator, famed for his bustling compositions and his keen eye on the manners of the Midi. The original plates in black were hand-coloured by Vairel, described in the colophon as a master illuminator — an artisanal illuminations process that gives each copy a character of uniqueness.

The printer’s mark is dated 18 August 1960; Daniel Gibelin was then director of the Imprimerie Nationale, Georges Arnoult inspector of typography.

Good general condition, the publisher’s havana-cloth case shows a few stains and small blisters; the interior is good apart from a few rare foxing spots and other minor defects.