BANVILLE Théodore de Paris et le nouveau Louvre. Ode.

Carteret I, 264 ; Oberlé, 156 ; Vicaire I, 264.

First edition, printed in 400 copies on Hollande paper.

This book is printed entirely in italics. This ode to Paris is set against the backdrop of the work to link the Louvre to the Palais des Tuileries, a vast undertaking conceived by Henri IV but only carried out by Napoleon III.

Hector-Martin Lefuel worked on the construction, following plans by Louis Visconti. It took almost a decade (1854-1862) for the project to be completed. The inauguration took place before the work was completed, on 14 August 1857. Banville’s Ode was published 2 months earlier, in June. It was ironically dedicated to Doctor Véron.

In his Odes funambulesques, published a few months earlier, Banville had fun ridiculing the doctor in the poem ‘V… le baigneur’. The satirical verses are violent and are a reaction to the events that had taken place in 1856 within the Société des Gens de Lettres. A poetry competition financed by Doctor Véron was organised. He wanted to encourage moral and Napoleonic literature. On the day the prizes were announced, writers hostile to the current regime booed the competition’s directors: Mérimée, Sainte-Beuve and Véron.

Provenance: unidentified bookplate ‘Mihi Tantum, Mihi Tantum’ by G. Huot.