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First Parisot edition, limited issue, one of 500 copies "on offset" from a total edition of 505, of which 5 were on vélin pur fil lafuma navarre, this copy inscribed by the translator on the half-title "à Georges Bataille, hommage d'un admirateur de 'Madame Edwarda'. Bien cordialement, Henri Parisot" ["to Georges Bataille, with respect from an admirer of 'Madame Edwarda', best wishes, Henri Parisot". This is an excellent association that finds "The Ancient Mariner" in fittingly surrealist waters. Parisot was a pre-eminent translator and editor best-known for his translations of Lewis Carroll. He was closely involved in the surrealist scene, adding his signature to the 1935 declaration Du temps que les surréalistes avaient raison and publishing the "L'Âge d'or" series in the latter half of the 1940s, which included works by other notable surrealists, including Giorgio de Chirico, Jacques Prévert, and the recipient of this volume, George Bataille. Bataille was a significant philosopher and intellectual, who was heavily involved with surrealism, if not always in agreement with its self-proclaimed founder, André Breton. In his inscription, Parisot expresses his admiration for Bataille's pseudo-erotic short story "Madame Edwarda", which appeared under the pseudonym Pierre Angélique in two small underground editions in 1941 and 1945. The surrealist elements of the Ancient Mariner have been well noted, often by surrealists themselves. There were several notable translations of the poem, including Van Hirtum's 1963 edition, and it was the first text that André Masson chose to illustrate that was not by his immediate circle. Breton referred to romanticism as "the prehensile tail of Surrealism" (quoted in Tobin, p.126), and this edition of Coleridge was published by one of the most notable surrealist publishing houses of the day: José Corti. Renée Riese Hubert, Surrealism and the Book, 1988; Daniel Tobin & Pimone Triplett, eds., Poet's Work, Poet's Play, 2008. Octavo. Original pale blue wrappers, spine and front wrapper lettered in black, edges untrimmed, a few uncut. With original glassine. Small shelf label on front free endpaper. Wrappers and edges lightly toned, a few marks to contents, else a near-fine copy in toned glassine with chips to spine ends and a few short closed tears, still sharp. Seller Inventory # 160858
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