VIGNY Alfred de Poëmes. Héléna, Le Somnambule, La Fille de Jephté, La Femme adultère, La Bal, La Prison, etc.

Clouzot, 274; Carteret, II, 445; Vicaire, VII, 1049.  

First edition, rare.

Often offering a disenchanted vision of society, Alfred de Vigny’s poems, rich in symbolism, foreshadow the poetic modernity of Baudelaire, Verlaine and Mallarmé.  Born at the end of the eighteenth century, on 27 March 1797 in Loches, into a small military aristocratic family with a strong monarchist streak, the only survivor of three brothers, Alfred de Vigny was brought up in Paris by his parents: « Mon père, ruiné par la Révolution, consacra le reste de son bien à mon éducation. Bon vieillard à cheveux blancs, spirituel, instruit, blessé, mutilé par la guerre de Sept ans, et gai, et plein de grâces, de manières». 

Married to the Chevalier de Vigny, who was 25 years older than her, his mother, with whom he remained very close throughout his life, had the ambition to write and played an important role in her son’s intellectual and literary training. After attending the Ecole Polytechnique, the officer who was almost a child was admitted as a gendarme to the King on 6 July 1814, and for 15 years went from garrison to garrison, remaining in the army until 1827. This monotonous life – which inspired his Servitude et grandeur militaires – but above all his taste for letters led him to write. He was not yet twenty when, in parallel with his military career, he began to write poetry and quickly made a name for himself in literary circles. From 1820 onwards, he was part of the first ‘Cénacle’ of Victor Hugo and Nodier and became one of the leaders of the Romantic school. In March 1822 he published his first collection of poetry, Poëmes.

“Ce recueil de poésies est de la plus grande rareté: un seul poème, Le Bal, avait paru en décembre 1819 dans Le Conservateur littéraire,. Il contient deux pièces, Héléna et Le Malheur qui n’ont pas été réimprimées dans les éditions suivantes et certaines qui l’ont été avec retranchements” (Carteret).

For 16 years, from 1822 to 1838, he devoted himself to literature, writing poems, novels, dramas, short stories and Chatterton. Played by Marie Dorval, with whom Vigny had an affair, the play was performed at the Comédie-Française and brought him fame.
In 1845 he was admitted to the Académie Française but refused to praise King Louis Philippe in his speech, which irritated the other members of the Académie, only Victor Hugo remained loyal to him.

A rare copy enriched with an autograph ex-dono :”Hommage de l’auteur” à l’encre, sur le faux-titre. 

[Bound with:]  

VIGNY, Alfred de. Le Trapiste, Poëme. S.l., s.d. [1822]. 8vo of 22 pp., vignette (axe and helmet) on the last page.

First edition in octavo format, published the same year as the original in quarto format (16 pp.).

Vicaire (VII, 1050) states that he has never seen it.

A fine copy preserved in its original binding, bringing together two very rare works by Alfred de Vigny.