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Jean Racine stands as one of the towering figures of French classicism and the tragedy of Versailles, his name inseparable from masterworks like *Phèdre*, *Andromaque*, *Bérénice*, *Britannicus*, and *Athalie*. This sumptuous four-volume edition of 1864, published by Napoléon Chaix et Cie of Paris, presents the complete theatrical works all eleven tragedies and a single comedy alongside Racine's prose writings and the biographical memoirs composed by his own son, Louis Racine, offering both the essential texts and intimate family perspective on the dramatist's life and art.
The *Collection Napoléon Chaix* was conceived as a series of finely produced editions of French classics for educated bourgeois readers, and this set stands as a testament to that ambition, making the works of France's greatest tragic poet available in a form worthy of the literature it contains.
For any serious collector of French drama or the literature of the nineteenth-century book arts, this complete Racine represents both intellectual treasure and physical beauty.
The opening of the first volume presents an engraved portrait of Racine after the celebrated painting by Jean-Baptiste Santerre, executed by Martines the iconic likeness that graced numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century editions of his works. This is the premium binding edition from the Chaix series, bound throughout in full red morocco with five raised bands, the spine compartments richly adorned with gilt fleurons and floral motifs, titles tooled in gilt capitals across all four uniform volumes, a binding style characteristic of the finest production of the 1860s1880s.
The binding itself is a triumph of the bookbinder's craft: the red morocco remains vibrant and uniform across all four volumes with no fading or discoloration visible, the gilt work on the spines crisp and lustrous, and the boards show no wear to the panels or head caps. The interior has not been fully examined, though standard browning should be anticipated upon opening, a characteristic hardly unusual in books of this age and period.
Orders are shipped within 24 hours of purchase in carefully chosen, well-protected packaging selected to suit the age and fragility of the book. The seller is happy to answer any further questions in English, French, or German do not hesitate to enquire.
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