Stendhal [Henry Beyle]

La Chartreuse de Parme

Paris, Ambroise Dupont, Éditeur (Imprimerie de A. Éverat et Comp.), 1839.

First edition.

Stendhal started writing The Charterhouse of Parma in November 1838; seven weeks later, on Boxing Day, he gave his publisher the complete novel. On 17 March 1839 the newspaper «Le constitutionel» announced that the book was due out in the following weeks, publishing the Waterloo «Scène militaire» extract (pages 5-6); the novel was printed in Paris in April.

«Mister Beyle has written a book in which the sublime glistens from chapter to chapter […]. Upon reading it a third time, slowly and thoughtfully, I found this work extraordinary»

The lukewarm critical reception it generated at first prompted Balzac (who greatly admired The Charterhouse of Parma) to write in «La revue parisienne» that «mister Beyle has written a book in which the sublime glistens from chapter to chapter […]. Upon reading it a third time, slowly and thoughtfully, I found this work extraordinary» adding further on that he would «like mister Beyle to be allowed to return to his work and polish his Charterhouse of Parma to perfection».

Stendhal obliged, taking into account a number of Balzac’s suggestions; however he would never print the revised version of his novel, and the text in print today follows the text printed in the first edition.

Conditions

Occasional slight foxing, contemporary ownership signature to the front wrapper of volume 1. Extraordinary full-margined copies (222 x 140 mm), clean, with three of the original four wrappers. Extremely rare thus.

Bibliography

— G. Vicaire, Manuel de l’amateur de Livres du XIXe siècle I (Paris 1894), col. 458
— H. Balzac, Études sur M. Beyle (in: «Revue parisienne» 25 sépt. 1840, pp. 273-342)
— L. Carteret, Le Trésor du bibliophile romantique et moderne II (Paris 1925), p. 358
— M. Escoffier, Le Mouvement romantique (Paris 1934), n. 1355
— En français dans le texte (Paris 1990), p. 238
— Stendhal, Œuvres romanesques complètes (Paris 2005), III 2 volumes.