GIDE, André.
Le Prométhée mal enchaîné. Paris, Société du Mercure de France, 1899.
In-12 [148 x 94] of 199 pp, (2) ff. the last one blank : half havana morocco, spine ribbed and decorated, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (contemporary binding).
First edition. (Only 12 copies were printed on large paper.)
A satirical fable inspired by the reading of Les Déracinés (1897) by Maurice Barrès: "These people suppress me: I have no reason to exist except by being hostile to them.
I seek under which religious or moral formula I can shelter my opposition; and how to legitimize it. I find that of Prometheus" (letter to Eugène Rouart).
A good copy.
Some stains on the first cover, restored tear on the second cover.
A copy of the first illustrated edition is enclosed:
Le Prométhée mal enchaîné. Paris, Nouvelle Revue Française, 1920.
In-8 [246 x 189] of (52) ff. the first and the last two blank : paperback.
Edition printed at 765 numbered copies on white vellum Lafuma-Navarre. It is decorated with the reproduction of 46 drawings by Pierre Bonnard (the title mentions only 30).
A well preserved copy despite the browned cover.