MÉRIMÉE (Prosper). Carmen, Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 1846. In-8, [2] ff. (faux-title and title), 363 pp. Half brown glazed calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleurons and curved fillets, gilt title, boards covered with marbled paper (boards rubbed, some scuffing; spine unstained; title page trimmed short or not centered when bound). First edition, first printing of Carmen (note "insulted" p. 75 and "it is eur" p. 86). In addition to Carmen, this edition contains the stories Arsène Guillot and L'Abbé Aubain. "One of the rarest and most sought after romantics" (Clouzot). Published after Mérimée's reception at the Académie française, the work did not immediately meet with the same success as Colomba, and it was not until the repercussion of Georges Bizet's opera, created in 1875, that Carmen, a femme fatale carried away by her passion and ferocity, became a true myth. Provenance: Ex libris vignette pasted on the upper back cover, " Ex libris F.M. Caye ". Clouzot, 201; Carteret, II, 148-150; Vicaire, V, 724-725; En français dans le texte, 265.