63 - BÉNÉZET, Mathieu. *The History of Painting* in three volumes. Poems. Preface by Aragon.

BÉNÉZET, Mathieu. *The History of Painting* in three volumes. Poems. Preface by Aragon. First edition, enhanced with a superb autographed dedication from the author to his wife, Olga Bénézet. Paris, Gallimard NRF, 1968. In-8, paperback, printed black-and-red cloth-bound cover. 113 pages. Cover slightly frayed, one corner slightly dog-eared and stained, minimal browning at the top, and very slight foxing on the front cover. First edition of the poet’s first major collection of poetry, published when he was only twenty-one years old, praised and with a preface by Louis Aragon, who saw in it the emergence of a great poetic voice. One of 2,100 copies printed on Calypso alfa paper from the Libert paper mills (no. 213). Beautiful autograph dedication signed by the author to his wife Olga Bénézet (1946–2013) on the half-title page: “for olga-my-love / This book I wrote nine years ago, already dreaming of you—and now here you are—and tomorrow will be your birthday—but the custom, which I love, is to celebrate it the day before, so that together we may grow, carry on—oh, if only I could spend a thousand more birthdays like this with you—if only we could, my beautiful love—and live in harmony—with the same happiness—I pray for that—and offer you the heart of a lifetime, Olga, whom I love and long for—so much / Mathieu / April 21, 1983.” It is accompanied by this marginal note: “This copy is damaged, because it is an archival copy that I bought today at Éditions Gallimard, 5 Rue Sébastien Bottini—you see, I took the last one—and it is in my heart like…”. Referring to the line on page 70 (“You have to grab a woman by the fins”), the author also left the following handwritten annotation: “I hate that, today and have for a long time.” Enclosed is an original invoice from Éditions Gallimard (5 Rue Sébastien-Bottin, 75007 Paris, Invoice No. 23913 dated April 21, 1983) made out to “Monsieur Benezet,” confirming the direct purchase of this copy at a bookstore on the very day the letter was written. A touching copy given by the poet to his muse and partner.