LE ROMAN COMIQUE. ["THE COMIC NOVEL"]

Paris: Jouast, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1880. No. 64 OF 170 LARGE PAPER COPIES on Holland paper, from a total edition of 220. 220 x 138 mm. (8 5/8 x 5 3/8"). Three volumes. Preface by Paul Bourget.
MOST ATTRACTIVE NAVY BLUE MOROCCO, GILT, BY STIKEMAN & CO. (stamp-signed on front turn-ins, covers with gilt-ruled frame, oblique fleurons at corners, raised bands, spine compartments intricately gilt, with lancets and volutes emanating from a central rosette, gilt lettering, turn-ins with gilt floral roll, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, other edges untrimmed. With 10 etchings by A. Salmon after Leopold Flemeng. A Large Paper Copy. Short, thin cracks in half of the six joints, isolated faint marginal discoloration or tiny spots of foxing, other trivial internal defects, otherwise very fine--clean and fresh internally, in well-preserved attractive bindings.

This is an attractive Large Paper Copy of Scarron's mirror of the slightly seamy side of 17th century French society, offered here in bindings by an important New York firm. "The Comic Novel" follows the picaresque adventures of young Le Destin, who joins a troupe of actors on the road. Prominent among the characters is the diminutive M. Ragotin, who writes dramas for the company and is constantly trapped in absurd imbroglios. The present work was originally published in parts in 1651 and 1657. The author had planned a third part, but died before the work was completed. Paul Scarron (1610-60) was not only known for his prolific output as a novelist, dramatist, and poet, but also for his curious and difficult life. He was severely deformed by what is thought to be polio, endured considerable pain, and, in an effort to find relief, became addicted to opium. Nevertheless, at 42, he married the beautiful young Françoise d'Aubigné, who, after Scarron's death (and by then known as Madame de Maintenon), became Louis XIV's mistress and eventually his morganatic wife. Our three-volume edition of "Comique" was produced by Damase Jouaust, who specialized in luxury printings intended for bibliophiles, issued on special papers, and often with pleasing etchings, as here. This copy is significantly enhanced by its appealing midnight blue bindings. During the period from the retirement of William Matthews to the establishment of the Club Bindery, there was no better binder in America than Henry Stikeman, who exhibited "extraordinary skill . . . in design, inlaying, and tooling." (Maser Collection) Stikeman's firm did high-end publisher's bindings as "bread and butter" work, and luxurious gilt-tooled bindings for collectors. According to Jeff Stikeman, binding expert (and great-great-grandson of Henry's brother George), those bindings signed "Stikeman" or "Stikeman & Co." (as here) are finished by hand and are much preferred to the firm's later blocked bindings, which are signed "Stikeman & Co., NY." (The former were done from 1887 to about 1915, the latter from 1915 to 1939.)..