L'Atelier d'un Peintre. Scènes de la Vie privée

viii, 370 pp.; 2 p.l., 314 pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. half-calf & marbled boards (minor foxing), spines stamped in blind & gilt, green leather lettering pieces on spines. Paris: Charpentier & Dumont, 1833.

First edition. Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859), poet, novelist, actress, and singer, is one of the founders of French romantic poetry. Her friend Balzac used her as the model for the title character of La Cousine Bette. She had a difficult and complicated life which is reflected in this autobiographical novel based on her stay, in 1808, with her uncle, the painter Constant Desbordes, in the old Capuchin monastery that he shared with other artists among whom were Girodet de Toussy-Trioson and François Gérard.

Fine and attractive set from the Wittelsbach library of the dukes and kings of Bavaria.

❧ N.B.G., Vol. 45, cols. 95-97.