Avignon, J. Roumanille, 1865.
12mo [184 x 118 mm] of 263 pp., (1) p. Bound in burgundy half-shagreen, untrimmed, printed wrappers bound in. Posterior binding.
First edition of this very rare compilation gathering poems of five important members of the Félibrige: Castil-Blaze, Adoufe Dumas, Jan Reboul, Paul Giéra and Toussaint Poussel.
Talvart 1890.
Paul Giéra, said Glaup, is a French poet of Provençal tongue, born and dead in Avignon.
He was one of the seven founding members of the Félibrige with Frédéric Mistral, Joseph Roumanille, Théodore Aubanel, Jean Brunet, Anselme Mathieu and Alphonse Tavan.
Toussant Poussel was a doctor from Avignon and a member of the Félibrige. Very close to Roumanille, he published some texts and poems in Provençal.
Jean Reboul, born in Nîmes on January 23rd, 1864, is a Provençal poet. He is the author of the famous L’Ange et l’enfant, published in 1828. Amongst his other poems, Le Dernier Jour was one of those that granted him an honorable place amongst the French poets. Chateaubriand visited him in Nîmes and congratulated him for his works. Lamartine, Alexandre Dumas and other celebrities of the time such as Andersen also came to see him. Jean Reboul was an active patron of the writers of the Félibrige.
Born in the Vaucluse, on December 18th, 1805, Adolphe Dumas lived on the other side of the Durance River, in Cabannes, near the land of Mistral.
After having written many poems and several plays, often off after a short time to make room for Alexandre Dumas’ ones, he is named on June 14th, 1855 to “collect the popular plays of our provinces”. In February 1856, he meets Frédéric Mistral in Maillance. In August 1858 he introduces him to Lamartine, of whom he is the secretary. It got him to be called “the father of the Félibrige writers”.
Friend of Frédéric Mistral, he was, by many, considered as the “father of the Félibrige writers”.
« Quant à vous, vous savez ce qu’il en est de nous: vous êtes le père des Félibres. Nous vous aimons à outrance. » (Letter of Frédéric Mistral to Adolphe Dumas, December 28th 1859).
Castil-Blaze, whose real name is Joseph Blaze, was born in Cavaillon on December 1st, 1784. Music commentator and composer exiled in Paris, Castil-Blaze never forgot his native Provence and was, as Adolphe Dumas – himself also exiled in the capital – a standard bearer of the Provençal language of which he was so proud. Most of his work was mainly published after his death, by his friends from the Félibrige.
These are Roumanille and Mistral, two other members of the Félibrige, who gathered and published these poems in Avignon in 1865.
The work is composed of five parts gathering various poems of these five authors:
· By Paul Giéra : Li galejado, A bigand, Li mau partejado, …
· By Toussaint Poussel : Lis avignounenco, Lou guerbe-fio, …
· By Jan Reboul : A moun ami M. G. de Labaumo, Meste Matieu, …
· By Castil-Blaze : Lou renaire, L’amo danad, La liouno dou ventour, Liso, …
· By Adoufe Dumas : Mi regret de Prouvenco, A Roumanillo em’a Mistral, mi bons ami, …
A beautiful copy of this very rare compilation of Provencal poems, with the printed wrappers bound in.
Localization of the copies: only 4 in the French Public Institutions.
