Cyrano de Bergerac / La Princesse Lointaine by Edmond Rostand 1903-1910

ROSTAND, Edmond (1868–1918). Cyrano de Bergerac; La Princesse Lointaine; Discours de Réception à l’Académie Française. Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1903–1910.

Two uniformly bound volumes, handsomely bound by Zaehnsdorf in brown half morocco over marbled boards, spines with raised bands, gilt titles and floral devices, top edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Binder’s ticket to the rear pastedown of both. Bookplates of Laura Joseph also to both volumes. Some light browning and moderate spotting to endpapers and preliminaries, occasional minor rubbing to bindings, otherwise very good.

Cyrano de Bergerac, Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1908, “trois cent vingt-huitième mille”, 215 pp. A later printing of Rostand’s 1897 play, issued by the original publisher. Companion volume containing La Princesse Lointaine, Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1910, “quarantième mille”, 98 pp., a later printing of the 1895 play, together with Discours de Réception à l’Académie Française, 36 pp.

An attractive Zaehnsdorf-bound pair of works by Edmond Rostand, best known for Cyrano de Bergerac, first performed in Paris in December 1897 and an immediate international success. The companion volume brings together his earlier verse drama La Princesse Lointaine, first performed in 1895, with his address on his reception into the Académie Française. Although the two principal works are later printings, both were issued by Rostand’s original publisher. Both volumes bear the bookplate of Laura Joseph. Her pictorial bookplate was designed by the noted engraver Charles William Sherborn in 1893.