Le Diable amoureux

Paris: Léon Ganivet, 1845. Six full-page wood engraved plates and 200 wood engravings in the text, engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. Contemporary gilt morocco-backed marbled boards. Armorial bookplate. An excellent copy. Finely illustrated edition of this occult novel that initiated the genre of the fantastique. The narrative follows Don Alvaro, a young man with whom Satan has fallen in love, as he attempts to rebuff the advances of Biondetta, who is actually the devil in disguise. This edition begins with a lengthy biography of the author including his “prophecies and revelations”. The delicate illustrations typify the gothic aesthetic and interpret the landmark text with whimsical sensibility.