ROSTAND (Edmond). - Lot 200

ROSTAND (Edmond). Le Vol de la Marseillaise. Paris: Librairie Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1919. - In-8, 230x160: (4 ff. first blank), 359 pp. printed cover. Dark blue half-maroquin with corners, spine ribbed, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Moscovitz). Posthumously published first edition of this collection of poems referring to the First World War. One of 100 numbered copies on antique japon à la forme paper. It is enriched with an autograph letter signed by the author, one page in-12, on mourning paper. The addressee wanted Rostand's opinion on theater during the war: "I have no idea what theater was like during the war years. I lived in horror of the cataclysm which, I know, struck you so cruelly and odiously. And in the midst of so much grief, I didn't go to the theater. Only once for the Silver Wedding. I've distanced my thoughts from all things theatrical. Forgive me, I can't talk about it, and at present have no idea of any kind about its movement. I do know that it has been lively, interesting, - and useful since it has provided a living for many good people and distracted heroes on leave." This letter was written a few months before the author's death on December 2, 1918. The play to which it refers, Les Noces d'argent, is a comedy by Paul Géraldy, first performed on May 5, 1917 at the Comédie-Française theater. Slight rubbing to binding. Browning to cover. Provenance: Marcel Silvain, with bookplate. - Count Alain de Suzannet, with bookplate.