The Flowers of Evil

VERY GOOD condition --- SLIPCASE: Very minor shelfwear. Cracked seam, top of inner book divider. BOARDS: Very good condition. Minor sunning to spines of both books. BOOKS: Very good condition. No issues. Please inspect photos closely for condition details. More photos available upon request. Any questions? Please ask.


Here on offer is a very nice set of Charles Baudelaire's controversial work of poetry, The Flowers of Evil, presented here in a French and English translation. Published by The Limited Editions Club in 1971, this set is #648 of 1500 copies produced for subscribers. The English volume is signed by the artist, Pierre-Yves Trémois. The books were printed by the Press of A. Colish in Mt. Vernon, NY and bound in buckram. The books are presented in, and protected by, a handsome two volume slipcase.

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"The Limited Editions Club was founded in 1929 by George Macy (1900-1956) to publish finely made and finely illustrated limited editions of the classics of literature - and of a few carefully selected contemporary titles, such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Most of the books were beautifully illustrated with original artwork by leading book illustrators. In most cases, the illustrators handsigned each copy of the books that they illustrated for the LEC."
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" 'Les Fleurs du mal' . . . (English: The Flowers of Evil) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ...

The poems in 'Les Fleurs du mal' frequently break with tradition, using suggestive images and unusual forms. The poems deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to the original sin, disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and aspiration toward an ideal world. 'Les Fleurs du mal' was highly influential toward several notable French poets, including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Stephane Mallarme."
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"Judicially condemned in 1857 as offensive to public morality, 'The Flowers of Evil' is now regarded as the most influential volume of poetry published in the nineteenth century. Torn between intense sensuality and profound spiritual yearning, racked by debt and disease, Baudelaire transformed his own experience of Parisian life into a work of universal significance. With his unflinching examination of the dark aspects and unconventional manifestations of sexuality, his pioneering portrayal of life in a great metropolis and his daring combination of the lyrical and the prosaic, Baudelaire inaugurated a new epoch in poetry and created a founding text of modernism."


The above text was taken, respectively, from Wikipedia and Bloomsbury USA (via Google Books). [Baudelaire, Charles. The Flowers of Evil. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury USA, 2016.]