Joe Bousquet - La connaissance du soir - 1945

Original Edition in 1 volume in-4 half calf, Auvergne paper cover with silvery floral motifs, printed in blue, 56 pages, unpaginated - Exterior wear, interior still fresh - Pleasant copy.

Print run of 200 copies, 1 of 150 on pure Marais paper (No. 131). Hand-cut by the Imprimerie Nationale in Grandjean type, layout by J.-R. Canudo.
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Bousquet wished to combine mysticism and poetry in his verse. The title La Connaissance du soir refers to this spiritual and contemplative dimension of his work.

Joë Bousquet (1897–1950) was a French writer and poet born in Narbonne and who died in Carcassonne. After being seriously wounded during World War I in 1918, he remained paralyzed and spent most of his life in his room in Carcassonne, which became a real place of creation and literary encounters.

His main works
La Connaissance du soir — poetry, first edition in 1945, limited to 150 copies; Gallimard edition in 1947.
Traduit du silence — 1941, a major work blending diary, reflection and poetic prose.
Le Meneur de lune — 1946.
Le Médisant par bonté — 1945.
L'Œuvre de la nuit — 1946.

Note an interesting feature: Bousquet himself wrote his first name “Joe,” without a diaeresis. The form “Joë Bousquet,” which has become customary in printed editions, is the one that has prevailed through use.