La Dame aux Camelias - Alexandre Dumas
DUMAS, Alexandre, Fils. La Dame aux Camélias. Paris: L’Edition D’Art H. Piazza, 1935. Text French, with a preface by Jules Janin.
Limited edition, 500 issued – nos101-600; this is copy no 390). Richly illustrated in colour by Paul-Émile Bécat (1885-1960), French painter, printmaker and engraver, best known for his portraits of French writers, and for his erotic works.
First published in 1848, La Dame aux Camélias [The Lady of the Camellias] is a semi-autobiographical novel based on the author's brief love affair with a glamorous Parisian courtesan, Marie Duplessis. One of the greatest love stories of all time, it inspired Verdi’s La Traviata, as well as countless film and stage adaptations.
xx, 322 pp; additional colour title-page, 7 colour plates, and colour text illustrations. 8vo, orig. full leather, teg, raised bands, gt lettering and rich tooling to spine, gt decorated borders, red camellia flower design to front board. Damage to top of rear joint professionally repaired in matching leather. Lightly foxed. In its orig. slip-case. Even with the repair, this remains a very attractive book.