336 - MARDRUS (Joseph-Charles)

MARDRUS (Joseph-Charles) The Book of a Thousand and One Nights. Literal and complete translation of the Arabic text. Paris, Éditions de la Revue Blanche, 1899-1904. 16 in-8 volumes (22 x 14 cm), orange half-maroquin with corners, smooth spines finely decorated with orientalist decor of gilt and cold arabesque fillets and mosaic fleurons, gilt fillet, gilt head, covers and spine preserved (Semet et Plumelle). First edition of which only one hundred deluxe copies were printed, namely 25 copies on japon impérial and 75 on hollande. (Chauvin iv-276.) The entire work is dedicated to the memory of Stéphane Mallarmé (with dedications in each volume to other personalities contemporary with the author). Vol. I. xxiii pp. (faux-titre, title, dedication to Stéphane Mallarmé, note from the editors, word from the translator to his friends), [1] f. dedication to Paul Valéry, [1] second faux-titre, 351 pp. (including introductory invocation). N°27 of 75 copies on hollande. Vol. II. 370 pp. (including dedication to the admirable Monsieur Bergeret, through Anatole France). Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. III. [2] ff. 315 pp. (including dedication to the poet José-Maria de Heredia, father of the three poets), [2] ff. unnumbered copies on hollande. Vol. IV. 335-[1] pp. (including dedication To my friend André Gide). Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. V. 297 pp. (including dedication to his wife Lucie Delarue "mon amie"), [3] ff. unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. VI. 304 pp. (including dedication to the very wise and dear Maurice Maeterlinck), [1] p. Ex. n°80 of 75 on hollande. Vol. VII. 276 pp. (dedication to our Henri Régnier). Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. VIII. 349 pp. (including dedication "Que mon ami Pierre Louÿs, délicieux traducteur de Chansons..."), [3] ff. Ex. unnumbered on hollande. Vol. IX. 332 pp. (including dedication "May this book, enemy of leaden-footed pedants, be a delicate tribute to Professor Hartwig Derenbourg [...]"), [2] ff. unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. X. 321 pp. (including dedication to Docteur Lucien de Beurmann), [3] ff. unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. XI. 346 pp. (including dedication to Pierre de Nolhac, "sultan of Versailles, poet and scholar, this chosen Salam of Queen Schahrazade and her friend"), [1] p. Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol XII. 320 pp. (including dedication "Aum! Quand la résurrection du Sanscrit est si notoire de par le fait magicien du brahme Sylvain Lévy [...]"), [2] ff. unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. XIII. 328 pp. (including dedication "A Rémy Gourmont qui nous console des ruminants"), [2] ff. unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. XIV: 334 pp. (including dedication to "Sidi Ben Montesquiou[...]"), [1] f. Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. XV. 332 pp. (including dedication "Au grand cheikh du Savoir et des Grimoires, mon ami Marcel Schwob [...]") Unnumbered copy on hollande. Vol. XVI. 290 pp. (including dedication "A l'ami charmant et silencieux, à l'homme et à l'artiste parfaits, notre cher Félix Fénéon"), [1] f. Unnumbered copy on hollande. Léautaud notes in his Journal that "Valéry had made numerous approaches to the Mercure to have his translation of the Thousand and One Nights published there. There was no success" Journal tome 3 p. 1712. Dr. Mardrus says he based his translation "on the Egyptian edition by Bulaq, which [he] felt was the richest in expressions of pure Arabic terroir". "The reader will find the pure, inflexible word for word. The Arabic text has simply changed characters: here it is in French, that's all" (editors' note). In reality, Joseph-Charles Mardrus's version of the Thousand and One Nights is more a rewriting than a translation in the strict sense. Drawing freely on various oriental sources (several traditions, Arabic and sometimes Persian or Turkish), Mardrus favors fidelity to the "spirit" of the collection rather than to the text, multiplying narrative amplifications, luxuriant descriptions and stylistic effects. He deliberately accentuates the poetic, erotic and marvelous dimensions of the tales, often attenuated by his predecessors. The Orient appears less as a historical reality than as a sensual, cruel and marvelous imaginary space. A work marked by Symbolist aesthetics and fin-de-siècle Orientalism, this version, far removed from philological requirements, nevertheless exerted a lasting influence on the modern literary reception of the Thousand and One Nights in France, and was praised by contemporary writers such as Gide and Apollinaire.