TRIPIER LE FRANC (Justin)

Lot 232
Go to lot
Estimation :
1000 - 1500 EUR
TRIPIER LE FRANC (Justin)
Mr. Gabriel Delessert. Paris, E. Dentu, 1859. Large volume in-8, grey semi-percaline, smooth mute spine, cover, untrimmed (Bound in late 19th century). Original edition of this biography of Gabriel Delessert, Prefect of Police of Paris from 1836 to 1848, written by Justin Tripier Le Franc (1805-1883), his former secretary. Portrait of Delessert engraved on steel by Claude Manigaud. Precious copy of Valentine Delessert (1806-1894), bearing this shipment signed by the author on the false title: A Madame Gabriel Delessert respectful and devoted tribute. Tripier Le Franc. It is enriched with 2 pretty portraits of Valentine, watercoloured on paper (about 130 x 150 mm), one of which bears the signature of her sister, Mathilde Odier, dated on the back in 1844 and 1850, as well as 6 albumen photographic portraits on paper. Born Laborde, Valentine married Gabriel Delessert in 1824. She was the muse and mistress of Prosper Mérimée, Maxime Du Camp and Charles de Rémusat, and held in her hotel in Passy one of the most distinguished literary salons in the capital, frequented by the Romantics. Valentine Delessert was Prosper Mérimée's great love. These two charming portraits are situated during their affair, which began in 1836. I am madly in love with the pearl of women," he wrote on January 12, "happy because I am madly in love, very unhappy because I cannot prove my love as often as I would like. On December 25, 1848, he wrote to Madame de Montijo, his confidante, after Maxime Du Camp, Valentine's new lover, had forced her to return his letters: I have experienced in recent months all the misery that it is given to a human being to suffer. A few years before her death (1870), Mérimée resumed friendly relations with her. The books that Mérimée gave him as a present, struck on the plates with a golden iron reproducing the signature of his first name, have remained famous. Highly scorched, heavily rubbed binding
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue