68 - ASSELINEAU (Charles). Charles Baudelaire: His Life and Work. Paris: Lemerre, 1869. In-12, red half-shagreen, decorated spine, untrimmed, 2 folios, 109 pp., table of contents & 5 plates. (Contemporary binding).

ASSELINEAU (Charles). Charles Baudelaire: His Life and Work. Paris: Lemerre, 1869. In-12, red half-shagreen, decorated spine, untrimmed, 2 folios, 109 pp., table of contents & 5 plates. (Contemporary binding). FIRST EDITION. ONE OF THE RARE COPIES ON HOLLAND VERGE PAPER, THE ONLY LARGE-FORMAT PAPER. The first—and also the most moving—book dedicated to Baudelaire by a close friend. When a mysterious illness, striking, alas, such a brilliant genius, overwhelmed the poet of *Les Fleurs du Mal*, Théodore de Banville wrote, it was with brotherly concern that Charles Asselineau, hour by hour, encouraged, strengthened, and consoled this broken soul, torn apart by life’s struggles. Of the five engraved portraits, three are signed to the right of the initial “B.” for Bracquemond: a portrait painted by Émile Deroy in 1844, a portrait painted by Gustave Courbet in 1848, and a sketch of Baudelaire by Baudelaire himself (from the same period). The other two portraits, created in 1862 and 1865, were engraved by their creator, Édouard Manet. For the large-format print, the five portraits are mounted on Chinese paper. Included with the work is a handwritten letter from the artist addressed to Victor Hugo, informing him of Baudelaire’s death. A MOVING COLLECTION.