Theophile Gautier : Poesies Completes

Featured Books

Theophile Gautier : Poesies Completes : Tome Premier & Deuxieme
Gautier, Theophile

Publication Date: 1876
Publisher: Paris, France Charpentier et Cie.
Book Price: $75.00 (SOLD)
Shipping: US$ 6.50
Bookseller: Russell Books
(Victoria, BC, Canada)

2-volume SET; endpapers browning; marbled boards with leather spines; 358+335 pages. During his lifetime, Pierre Jules Theophile Gautier (1811-1872) produced works of poetry, drama, fiction, journalism and literary criticism. He was greatly esteemed by such writers as Baudelaire and Oscar Wilde, counted Gerard de Nerval as a close friend, and was acquainted with many influential figures of the 19th century French cultural elite. As a contributing journalist to "La Presse" and "Le Moniteur Universel", Gautier travelled extensively, and the resulting travel literature is still highly regarded. In 1856, Gautier was granted the editorship of the influential arts review "L'Artiste" and used it as a vehicle through which to disseminate his philosophy of "art for art's sake", an expression he is credited with having originated. As chairman of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1862, he enjoyed the company of such renowned painters as Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet and Gustave Dore. Later in life, he was offered a sinecure as a librarian to Princess Matthilde Bonaparte, the niece of Bonaparte III. This 2 volume edition of Gautier's "Poesies Completes" includes the long narrative poem "Albertus", "Poesies Diverses", "La Comedie de la Mort", the travel-inspired collection "Espana", and "Poesies Inedites - Poesies Posthumes".