Books

Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1898. First Edition. Fine. 12mo, 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 in.(192 x 133 mm), 225 pp. 1898 Riviere and Son binding in red crushed morocco, Art Nouveau leaf-spray devices gilt to spine and covers, gilt fillets on turn-ins and binder's mark which reads "R. Riviere & Son | for L.S. Montagu, 1898," t.e.g, others untrimmed, marbled endpapers, original wrappers bound in at rear. A beautifully-bound first edition of the classic French play about the large-nosed Cyrano obliged to help another more handsome man woo the beautiful Roxanne who Cyrano already loves. Rostand's play stages the tragic complicity between two halves of man, puts into question the existence of justice or happy love in this world, but ends with the evidence of hope: in the guise of Christian, it is the soul of Cyrano that Roxanne loved. This drama in five acts saw its first production on December 27th 1897, with the leading role played by Constant Coquelin, who went on to play the role…

Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play is a fictionalized account of his life and incorporates larger-than-life elements. It explores themes of inner versus outer beauty, love, and heroism.

First editions published by Charpentier et Fasquelle, with date 1897 on title page.