Stendhal - De L'Amour [Edition originale; reliure signée Petitot] - 1833

Highly sought-after first edition, put back on sale by Bohaire eleven years after the first one published in 1822 by Mongie l'aîné (which had only sold 17 copies!). It has all the characteristics of the first edition (typographical error on the title page, but not on the covers, Mozalt instead of Mozart).

Complete in two volumes, set in attractive bindings signed Petitot, executed in blue long-grained half-morocco, spines with raised bands highlighted with gilt fillets. Covers and spine preserved (label from 1822 on the first volume and pink covers printed with the date 1833 on the second).
A well-preserved copy overall. Bindings are solid despite the rubbed leather. The leather on the spine of volume 1 has been glued back together for a few centimetres. Scattered foxing.

Stendhal began writing this work on December 29, 1819, in Milan. On Love is inspired by the platonic and unhappy love that Stendhal felt for the wife of a Polish officer, Matilde Dembowski, née Viscontini. For ten months, he worked on what seems more like a confession than a true novel. In it, he expounds his famous theory of the "crystallization" of love. This book went completely unnoticed upon its release, probably because of the cold tone employed by Stendhal.

Stendhal
Of love
Paris, P. Mongie the elder, 1833
2vol in-12 (17.5 x 10.5cm); 232pp +330pp