BERNARD, Charles de. A father-in-law. I [-III], Paris : Péti - Lot 3

Lot 3
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BERNARD, Charles de. A father-in-law. I [-III], Paris : Péti - Lot 3
BERNARD, Charles de. A father-in-law. I [-III], Paris : Pétion, 1845. 3 volumes in 3 volumes in-8 of [2], 342, [2] p. (volume I) ; [2], 361, [3] p. (volume II) ; [2], 327, [1] p. (volume III). Green Russian half leather, long spine, double gilt fillets and title, gilt fillet on the boards (period binding). Covers slightly rubbed, corners worn with small leather tears, otherwise a good copy. BEAUTIFUL PROVENANCE: from the library of the Prince of Dietrichstein, with his signature on the title page. Moritz-Joseph-Johann, prince von Dietrichstein (1775-1864), was governor and tutor of the Aiglon. He later took over the direction of the theaters and music of the Austrian Imperial Court and was appointed prefect of the Imperial Library.) Born in Besançon, close to Balzac, Charles de Bernard was very popular in the 1840s. He studied at the college of Besançon, then at Dijon. In 1830, he wrote a series of legitimist articles for the Gazette de Franche-Comté. In 1831, he published in the Gazette a glowing review of "La Peau de chagrin", which earned him a letter of thanks from Balzac. Solicited by Balzac, he went to Paris, where he frequented the cenacle of Charles Nodier. In 1832, he publishes a volume of elegiac poems which does not meet any success. Disappointed, he retired to Besançon (Cf. preface of Jules Claretie to the English edition of Gerfaut, published in 1910). Balzac visited him in Besançon in 1833 and persuaded him to return to Paris. Jules Claretie, who appreciates his portraits, full of realism and naturalness, and praises his energetic and limpid style, both elegant and cultivated, considers him even superior to his mentor. In 1838, his novel Gerfaut, considered his masterpiece, was crowned by the French Academy. It was translated into English and admired both in the United States and in Great Britain, where William Makepeace Thackeray was pleased that Charles de Bernard spared his readers the "horrors" and "monstrosities" they were likely to encounter when reading Balzac or Victor Hugo (see Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Paris Sketch Book, On Some French Fashionable Novels, 1840). Stricken with a larynx disease, which eventually made it impossible for him to swallow, Charles de Bernard died of starvation at the age of 46. In 1878 Henry James judged that "as a French novelist of the second rank, he deserves to be given a comfortable corner, for if he is not especially worth studying, he at least leaves you with a very sympathetic impression if you ever meet him on your way."
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