Signé ; Anna de Noailles - Poème de l'amour [1/75 sur japon — envoi à Paul Painlevé + L.A.S.] - 1924

A moving literary and sentimental relic: a rare copy of the Poème de l’Amour, limited edition no. 7 on Japan paper, with a full-page autograph dedication from the Countess of Noailles to Paul Painlevé, and a touching handwritten autograph letter, imbued with emotion, admiration, and compassion. The fragile cover remains in its original condition. A rare set.


Countess of Noailles

Poem of Love

Fayard, Paris, 1924

First edition, copy no. 7 on Japanese paper – Inscribed and signed to Paul Painlevé – Autograph letter enclosed


Original edition
Paperback, with full margins, in the original publisher's almond green cover, printed in black

Format: in-8 (21 x 14.5 cm approx.)
Pagination: 221 pages

Justification for the draw:
75 copies on Japanese paper from the Imperial Manufactory, numbered from 1 to 75.
50 copies on Chinese paper, numbered from 78 to 125.
250 copies on Holland paper, numbered from 126 to 375.
350 copies on Lafuma vellum paper, numbered from 376 to 725.
Our copy is number 7 on the Japanese edition.


The covers are very fragile and worn, the second one about to detach. They are tired, frayed, and there is a tear at the bottom of the spine. Given its qualities, it deserves to be rebound; the interior is very fresh, without marks, foxing, or pitting.


Autographed inscription — half-title page

Beautiful full-page autographed dedication, signed:

“To Mr. Paul Painlevé – to you, dear and illustrious friend,
I admire you with all my heart.
(signed) Countess of Noailles

Paul Painlevé (1863–1933) — A prestigious recipient

Paul Painlevé was one of the most important intellectual and political figures of the Third Republic.

Internationally renowned mathematician, specialist in celestial mechanics and differential equations (so-called "Painlevé" solutions). Member of the Academy of Sciences since 1900.

A major statesman, several times a minister (War, Public Instruction) and twice President of the Council (Prime Minister): in 1917, then in 1925.

A friend of writers and artists, frequenting Parisian literary circles: Barrès, France, Colette, Gide, Proust, Anna de Noailles, to whom he was linked by correspondence.

He is known to have maintained deep intellectual ties with Anna de Noailles, admired for her lyricism, spirituality, and emotional depth.

To receive an autographed letter from the Countess to Paul Painlevé is therefore to have a prestigious copy, coming from the Library of a leading intellectual, at the crossroads of literature, science and politics.



Countess Anna de Noailles (1876-1933)

An emblematic poet of the Belle Époque, the first woman admitted to the Royal Academy of Belgium, a friend of Gide, Proust, Colette, Barrès.
She embodies modern lyric poetry, blending sensuality, spirituality, passion, and the pain of living.



Poem of Love (1924) is a pivotal work: a meditative collection, merging the experience of love, suffering, the beauty of the world, friendship as consolation, in a musical, vibrant, intoxicating style of prose poetry and free verse.




Autographed letter attached (separate document)

Double sheet (one sheet: 13 cm x 17.5 cm), four pages, cream laid paper, octavo format. Approximately fifty lines (plus polite closings) in the Countess de Noailles's characteristic handwriting. Undated (just Wednesday), recipient unknown (a poet). Beautiful signature.

Intimate, compassionate tone: an expression of sympathy and admiration towards a woman who has experienced a bereavement

Transcription

Page 1

Wednesday

Dear Madam,

As I would tell you, infinity
sympathy with which my sorrow
Thought stands near you,
in the terrible misfortune that has befallen you.
I was reading with tears in my eyes, overcome with emotion.
of profound admiration.

Page 2

These noble and magnificent
complaints about your heartbreaking and
haughty poem,
when I learned the news which
was going to break your
heart which we now know
forever the incom-
comparable tenderness.
A huge and
sad friendship, what

Page 3

your high accents
and this terrible grief
will give rise in
all your readers,
will now surround
your steps and those
of your child.
A soul like
yours was already entirely
refugee in
the sublime
poetry, but
a test so

Page 4
cruel demands
from her an even harsher impulse towards the
supreme attitude
courage, which is infinite lyricism,
cannot fail
to your big heart
I think of you
with deep sadness
content

Anna de Noailles

A letter of condolence, very imbued with spirituality.

Noailles deals with mourning, suffering, and elevation through sadness, major themes in his work.

She sees in pain a source of grandeur, poetry, and transcendence.

The style is lyrical and emphatic.

A letter very representative of Noailles' writing, of great literary quality, always a little bloated, usable in a publication or catalogue.


Very good condition: nothing to report