Le Mariage de Loti

Paris: Librairie Lemercier, 1927. Limited Edition. First Edition thus.. Three Quarter Morocco. Marbled Boards. Near Fine. 1 of 12 copies to the limitation, this being a presentation copy to Madame de Becque, the wife of the illustrator. Beautiful 3/4 morocco binding by Saulnier. 4to. 28 by 22 cm. 208 pp., with 18 color plates, and twelve vignettes, and a second suite of all the illustrations in just outline form bound in at the end, along with the spine to the wraps. (The wrap cover serves as one of the three title pages.) In its original title, "Raharu", this is the novel that put Loti on the map in 1880, and it served as the inspiration for Leo Delibes' once popular opera, "Lakmé", which premiered just three years later. Essentially, Loti was the authorial counterpart to Gauguin in plunging whole into Tahitian society, and his pen-name, "Loti", followed from this novel. Without question one of Loti's greatest strengths as a writer was the color he brought to his descriptions and exotic subject matter, and these pochoirs most definitely honor and capture that mastery. The bright plates and vignettes could be mistaken for actual painting, and they are a feast to the eye. Apparently scarce, with the only copy we could locate at the BNF -- no copies of this edition were found at all on OCLC or in commerce. A few tiny specks of discoloration on the spine, and very light edgewear. Otherwise, clean, and pristine inside.