[Charles-Augustin de SAINTE-BEUVE].

Livre d'amour. Paris, Imprimerie de Pommeret et Guénot, 1843. In-12: green half-maroquin with corners, smooth spine decorated throughout, not trimmed (V. Champs). First edition. There were 500 copies, without author's name and out of trade. Most of them were destroyed. Forty-one poems dedicated to the author's love affair with Adèle Hugo. Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve lived in the same rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, linked by a fraternal friendship. The lovers' relationship dated back to 1830. The rare copies distributed to close friends and relatives and Sainte-Beuve's indiscretions caused a scandal: the two writers were to hate each other for the rest of their lives. A fine copy, despite the faded spine. An engraved portrait of the author has been mounted at the head. From the libraries of Ch. Morizet, with bookplate, René Descamps-Scrive (cat. II, 1925, no. 453), Robert von Hirsch (1978, no. 225) and Louis de Sadeleer, with bookplate.