WITH ORIGINAL LANDSCAPE VIGNETTES
AZAÏS, Gabriel, and Charles LABOR.
Illustrated manuscript volume of poetry, comprising ‘Vingt-six janvier 1836’ by Azaïs, and ‘Marie’ by Labor.
Béziers, not before 1836.
Manuscript on paper, 4to, ff. [20], in French, with ruled borders, in brown ink, with 30 landscape vignettes in black ink, 19 incorporating initials; in fine condition in contemporary red polished calf, covers tooled with gilt central panel and roll-tooled borders at head and foot, geometric lozenge pattern painted in black; a few small scuffs; both poems inscribed ‘A Madame Donadieu'.
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Illustrated manuscript volume of poetry, comprising ‘Vingt-six janvier 1836’ by Azaïs, and ‘Marie’ by Labor.
A charming presentation volume, with French poems by the Occitan scholars Azaïs (1805–1888) and Labor (1813–1900), and fine vignette sketches.
Azaïs, later author of Les Troubadours de Béziers (1869) was a member of the Félibrige, the literary organisation founded by Frédéric Mistral to promote Occitan language and culture. Labor was a landscape painter, a secretary and close friend of Lamartine, author of a novel (Marguerite, 1837), and the founder and first conservator of the Musée des Beaux Arts de Béziers; the vignettes are presumably by him.
The Madame Donadieu to whom the volume is presented was likely a relative of the Occitan poet and historian Frédéric Donnadieu, likewise a member of the Félibrige and a native of Béziers, and with both poets was a member of the city’s Societé archéologique, scientifique et littéraire.
