DOVALLE (Charles). Le Sylphe, Poems of the late Ch. Dovalle, preceded by a Notice by M. Louvet, and a preface, by Victor Hugo. Paris : Ladvocat, 1830. - In-8, burgundy paper boards, smooth spine, untrimmed, cover preserved (modern binding). Posthumous first edition. Born in 1807 in Mayne-et-Loire, Charles Dovalle was attracted to poetry at a very early age, to the point of giving up the career of lawyer that his parents had planned for him. A journalist at the Echo des Salons and the Figaro, he was soon feared for his verve and critical spirit. He was killed in a duel in the prime of his life for having pushed a certain Mira, son of the comedian Brunet, to the limit. A poem he had written a few minutes earlier for his parents was found on Dovalle, pierced by the bullet that killed him. Victor Hugo, solicited by the author's friends, composed a moving preface especially for this edition: "And first of all, Gentlemen, what strikes you when you begin this reading, what strikes you when you finish it, is that everything in this book by a poet so fatally predestined is grace, tenderness, freshness, harmonious sweetness, suave and soft reverie . Some soiling and tears to the cover.