Books

1st Edition. Hardcover. The True First American Edition. A near fine example of this rare [French Language] American publication bound in decorated green cloth over boards. 8vo. [1-6], 7-239 pages preceding the Doubleday English edition. With author & title credits in highly decorative gold lettering on the upper cover above an illustrated black stamped image of Cyrano gazing upward: author, title and publisher credit across the backstrip, teg. fore-edge uncut. With 9 black & white plates. In a sound binding, with extremities only very lightly rubbed. A very nice copy. Rare. Cyrano was first published [1898] by Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle in Paris. In the United States it was published first in French in the same year by the William R. Jenkins Company & then in a much more broadly distributed English version by the firm of Doubleday, McClure which is most often called erroneously the first US edition. In the same year, Heinemann published the 1st UK edition. Both English language editions are preceded by the sparse Jenkins French printing; the French [American] copies being very far outnumbered by the later English language ones. This is the true First American Printing of Cyrano, in the very nice decorated original binding. Rostand's highlight & basis for two screen efforts; The Jose Ferrer 1950's original & the 1990 remake starring Gerard Depardieu. Ferrer won Best Actor Academy award for his portrayal of Cyrano. The 1990 film was up for five awards, including Oscar nominations for Depardieu & for the Best Foreign Film.

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.