PRE-FIRST EDITION
BAUDELAIRE, Charles.
Les Fleurs du mal [from Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 June 1855].
[Paris, Revue des Deux Mondes, 1855.]
8vo, pp. [1], 1080-1093, [1]; in fine condition, bound in red morocco-backed boards, spine lettered directly in gilt.
First appearance in print of any of the poems from the celebrated but suppressed collection Les Fleurs du mal, extracted from the Revue des Deux Mondes.
The eighteen poems here, including ‘Au Lecteur’, ‘La Volupté’, ‘Voyage à Cythère’, ‘L’Invitation au Voyage’, and ‘Le Spleen’, appeared on 1 June 1855, two years before the collection itself was published in June 1857.
The 1857 publication was denounced by the Figaro for immorality, and in August that year all remaining copies were seized. Baudelaire was convicted of indecency and fined 300 francs, and six of the poems prohibited. The ban on publishing the complete collection in France was not lifted until 1949.
