[Dessins originaux] - Théophile Gautier / Milivoj Uzelac - Le roman de la momie [1/20 sur vélin d'Arches avec 2 dessins originaux] - 1947

THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
The Mummy’s Tale.
Paris, at Eryx, [1947].
1 volume in quarto (28 x 22 cm), loose leaves with a guard and a front cover decorated with a mummy relief, cream publisher’s slipcase titled in green along the spine, with an inner binding; initials P.S on the upper guard, 239-[4] pages (complete). Corners of the slipcase worn. Very good overall condition with a particularly fresh interior.

Work composed of 24 color plates by Uzelac, aquarelles made with a stencil, of which 14 are hors-texte.

Limited edition of 781 numbered copies. One of 20 copies on Arches vellum (no. 12) including 2 original drawings, of which 1 is unpublished, a sequence of hors-texte and a sequence of studies printed in a single tone.

A young Englishman of the best circles discovers in the Valley of the Kings a tomb undisturbed for 3500 years; it contains the mummy of a wonderfully beautiful young woman, Tahoser, whose story is recorded on a papyrus. The Roman of the Mummy tells her story: the daughter of a great Egyptian priest, she has fallen in love with a young Hebrew “with dark eyes before whom a dream seemed to dance.”

Gautier carries us to Thebes, at the time when the Hebrew people are enslaved in Egypt, and where Moses, in reprisal, sends the ten plagues of Egypt. Against a backdrop of biblical history, in a setting of immense temples, countless armies, long-bearded priests and opulent captives, Gautier tells the story of an impossible love.

From Napoleon’s expedition to Champollion’s deciphering of hieroglyphs, from Verdi’s Aida to Flaubert’s Salammbô, Egypt is at the heart of Romantic reverie. Gautier offers to ancient Egypt an unforgettable vision: between adventure novel and poetic reverie, he links the realm of the dead to that of the living.

Rare and handsome copy.