GONCOURT (Edmond and Jules de). En 18... Paris, Dumineray, 1851. In-12, [2] ff. (false-title and title), 284 pp. with a large folding engraved plate added (Panorama des Andes), half havana leather with corners, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fillets, cold garland on the boards, edges spotted with red (period binding). Small bump at the head. Very rare first edition of the very first work of the Goncourt brothers, of which the copies were partly recovered and destroyed by the authors (only 84 copies would have been sold or given away, and would thus have circulated). In 1884, a new edition was given, with the restoration of the passages deleted in the original, and an introduction explaining the history of the book. The novel narrated the adventures of a 19th century artist, and was a complete publishing failure, which the authors by the way attributed to the interference of the December 1851 coup d'état which coincided with the date of the book's release.) (Vicar III, 1024-1025.) A good copy from the library of the poet and publisher (Éditions de Minuit) Georges Hugnet.