BARBEY D'AUREVILLY (Jules)

Disjecta membra. [Paris, Daniel Jacomet pour Émile Lafuma et Roger Crès, 1920]. In-4, burgundy Russian leather, multiple gilt filets forming a frame with a large cold motif in the corners, ornate spine, interior roulettes, gilt head, untrimmed (Randeynes). A deluxe edition, partly original, giving a complete facsimile reproduction of Barbey's personal manuscript register, inherited by his devoted secretary Louise Read. This extraordinary collection wonderfully reveals Barbey's abundant creative spirit, in which he recorded his thoughts, notes, poems, drafts and sketches of works, etc., in multicolored inks and a multitude of small drawings. They include travel souvenirs and reading notes, as well as poems that would later be included in Poussières or Rhythmes oubliés, thoughts on various subjects, and more. Although not intended for publication, this collection was not unknown to a number of Barbey d'Aurevilly's contemporaries - notably those who had the privilege of crossing the threshold of the "sous-lieutenant's tournebride" occupied by Barbey d'Aurevilly at 25 rue Rousselet. We know from the testimonies of several of them that Barbey was happy to show this large manuscript volume to his visitors; as in a liber amicorum, some even left a souvenir on it: for example, Jean-Louis Forain painted a beautiful full-page portrait of a woman of the world (Joël Dupont in Omnia, 2008, p. 9). The title chosen by Barbey for this collection alludes to the "scattered limbs" of the poet Orpheus quoted by Horace in his Satires: les disjecta membra poetae. Edition of 150 copies, this one unnumbered. A fine copy, very well bound by Randeynes. Without the accompanying brochure and the unpublished etched portrait of Barbey by Ernest Laborde after A. Salomon.