Le Spleen de Paris

Le Spleen de Paris. Petits poèmes en prose. BAUDELAIRE, Charles Paris, Éditions de La Banderole, 1922. Quarto (4to) (25.7 x 18.8 cm), Paperback, 168 pp. Illustrated with compositions by Louise Hervieu, copper engraved by Schutzenberger. Numbered copy no. 415, printed on vellum. Very good condition, free of foxing, rare for paper of this period. Beautiful illustrated edition of the Petits poèmes en prose by Charles Baudelaire, published by Éditions de La Banderole during the interwar period. The work combines one of the foundational texts of poetic modernity with remarkable engraved illustration work. In Le Spleen de Paris, Baudelaire abandons the constraint of verse to invent a new form, where poetry is born from the streets, anonymous silhouettes, fleeting visions, and feelings of melancholy specific to modern life. The engravings by Louise Hervieu extend the Baudelairean universe through a dark and refined atmosphere, between realism and symbolism.