DAUDET (Alphonse). — *La Belle-Nivernaise*. The Story of an - Lot 71

DAUDET (Alphonse). — *La Belle-Nivernaise*. The Story of an Old Boat and Its Crew Paris, C. Marpon and E. Flammarion, [1886]. Small quarto, 226 pp., [3] title pages, lavishly illustrated throughout the text and with full-page illustrations by Louis Montégut. A largely original edition, published in 1886, of Daudet’s famous account of the world of river barge shipping. The first printing of the book features numerous illustrations by Louis Montégut, including 21 separate plates, created notably using the glyptography process. Following *La Belle-Nivernaise*, the volume includes several other stories: *Jarjaille chez le Bon Dieu*, *La Figue et le Paresseux*, *Premier Habit*, *Les Trois Messes basses*, and *Le Nouveau Maître*. Beautiful polychrome cardboard binding by the publisher, signed Engel; full red percaline cloth; front cover adorned with a large polychrome and gilded composition depicting the characters on the barge *La Belle-Nivernaise*, a composition by Paul Souze based on Montégut’s work, set within a rich black-and-gold geometric frame; the back cover decorated in black with a large medallion and frames; spine richly adorned with gilded panels, gilded title, and gilded edges. This binding is one of the main bibliophilic attractions of this edition. A complete copy in its attractive publisher’s cardboard binding. Condition: The binding remains fresh and decorative despite some rubbing on the headbands, edges, and corners; slight wear at the bottom of the spine. Significant foxing, at times very pronounced, affecting the endpapers, half-title page, title page, and numerous leaves of the text block. A few old traces of moisture on the inner margins of the first leaves. One endpaper has been previously mounted or glued under a protective sheet of paper. The binding is sturdy.