Éoriginal edition “rare and highly sought after“ of this drama by’Alexandre Dumas.
Among the 251 works of Alexandre Dumas listed by the bibliographer Mr. Clouzot
(French Bibliophile’s Guide of the XIXe century, Paris, 1996)
only 4 are marked as “highly sought after“:
The Three Musketeers ; The Count of Monte Cristo; The Tower of Nesle; My Memoirs.
Dumas, Alexandre and Gaillardet. The Tower of Nesle, Drama in five acts and nine scenes, by MM. Gaillardet and ***, performed for the first time in Paris at the Porte-Saint-Martin thêtre on May 29, 1832.
Paris, J. N. Barba, 1832.
In-8 of (4) ff., 98 pp. (2) pp. of bookseller’s announcement, Half long-grain Havana morocco with corners, gold fillet in gildings on the spine, with printed covers and spine preserved, untrimmed. Binding signed G. Mercier S. of his fatherr of his father.
209 x 130 mm.
Original edition “rare and highly sought after” (Clouzot p. 94) of this drama by Alexandre Dumas performed for the first time in Paris at the Porte Saint-Martin thêtre on May 29, 1832.
“Famous piece that has become rare.” Carteret, I, 314.
Among the 251 works of Alexandre Dumas listed by the bibliographer Mr. Clouzot (French Bibliophile’s Guide of the 19th century, Paris, 1996) only 4 are marked as “highly sought after“: The Three Musketeers ; The Count of Monte Cristo ; The Tower of Nesle ; My Memoirs.
“Very rare. Copy with cover. Sold” could be rêd in the Bulletin of Morgand and Fatout Bookstore as êrly as 1884 (n°11117).
“Drama in five acts by Alexandre Dumas père (1803-1870) and Frédéric Gaillardet (1808-1882), performed in 1832. A legend makes the tower of Nesle the scene of more than one crime: it is there, indeed, that Margaret of Burgundy, the lawful wife of King Louis X and her own sisters allegedly murdered their lovers after certain nights of love, witnessed by none. This legend provided the subject of the drama that interests us, one of the first in romantic thêter after the triumph of ‘Hernani,’ by Victor Hugo in 1830. Léonet de Bournouville, page to the Duke of Burgundy, is the lover of Princess Margaret; from this affair, two children were born. The Duke of Burgundy wants to confine his daughter in a convent; to escape this possibility, Margaret urges Léonet to assassinate the Duke. But, horrified by her crime and wanting to erase the memory of her passion and its consequences, she orders the page to lêve and entrusts the newborns to a man to drown them. Unable to carry out this horrible mission, the latter abandons the twins in front of Notre-Dame, after marking their arms, both, with a cross, with the tip of his dagger. Yêrs pass: the former page, now a valiant officer, returns to Paris under the name of Buridan. The abandoned children have become two dashing cavaliers, Philippe and Gaultier Daulnay. Philippe, dans la triste tour de Nesle, est assassiné ; Gaultier, qui veut se venger des meurtriers de son frère, est passionnément amoureux de Marguerite qui a fait tuer Philippe (sans le savoir, elle est la mère des deux frères) ; pour la première fois de sa vie peut-être, en face de Gaultier, elle éprouve un sentiment pur. Elle décide de faire mourir Buridan, puisque celui-ci sait que Philippe a été tué sur l’ordre de la reine ; mais Buridan dévoile sa véritable identité et parvient à se faire nommer premier ministre. Il apprend par hasard que Gaultier est son propre fils, alors qu’il a déjà causé sa perte en l’envoyant à la tour de Nesle […] » (Dictionnaire des Œuvres, VI, p. 454).
Précieux exemplaire de cette originale littéraire de la plus grande rareté, grand de marges car non rogné, avec les couvertures imprimées conservées.
Un seul exemplaire est passé sur le marché public au cours des 40 dernières années (vente O. Doutrebente du 5 juin 2015) mais il était incomplet du feuillet final imprimé.
Provenance : de la prestigieuse bibliothèque Paul Villebœuf avec son ex libris et son monogramme « VP » doré au premier contreplat. Une lettre autographe de Gaillardet a été reliée au début du volume.
