COPPÉE (François). Œuvres. Poetry 1864-1872. - Poésies 1872-1878. Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1883-1885. - 2 volumes in-4, 280 x 225: portrait, (2 ff.), 331 pp. 8 plates, printed cover; (2 ff.), 389 pp. (1 f.), 8 plates, printed cover. Percaline rouge à la Bradel, smooth spine, untrimmed, cover preserved (Pierson). Partly original deluxe edition by Lemerre, featuring the definitive version of François Coppée's poems. For Claretie, "this edition, this monument erected for him by Alphonse Lemerre, is already like a posterity beginning for Coppée" (Claretie, Célébrités contemporaines. Fr. Coppée, 1883, p. 21). The poet evokes his gratitude to Lemerre in the last quatrain of the first collection entitled À mon éditeur: "Mes humbles vers vont donc me survivre, Lemerre, // Grâce au format de luxe grâce au beau papier; // Et ton livre sera le magnifique herbier // Qui conserve longtemps une fleur éphémère." The first of these two volumes went to press on March 15, 1880, but bears the date 1883 on the title. It is illustrated with a header, a cul-de-lampe, a portrait and 8 plates, engraved by or after Émile Boilvin (1845-1899). The second volume is illustrated with a header, a cul-de-lampe and 8 plates engraved by Paul Adolphe Rajon (1843?-1888) after drawings by Lucius Rossi (1846-1913). These two volumes are among the 1,000 copies on laid paper, out of a total edition of 1,100. EDMOND DE GONCOURT'S COPIES, the first volume including this autograph dedication signed by the author: À Edmond de Goncourt, // Souvenir Amical de // François Coppée This same volume has been enriched with an autograph poem by François Coppée, mounted on a mitre, a copy of the thirty-eighth poem in the collection Promenades et intérieurs, a portrait of the author in two states, two states of the header and cul-de-lampe, and 2 to 4 states of the plates, including the one engraved by Mongin on chine volant before the letter. The edition's portrait is in a single state. Goncourt set great store by this edition, particularly the first volume illustrated by Boilvin, as he wrote on the front flyleaf: "One of the most beautiful illustrated books of the 19th century. I am certainly only referring to Boilvin's etchings illuminating the first volume, of which there is here a first state suite containing marvels of light and spiritual etching. My copy also contains an autograph piece that the poet kindly sent me. Edmond de Goncourt." Slight wear to corners and covers. Scattered brown spots, more pronounced on some plates. Pages 257 to 263 are duplicates in the first volume. Provenance: Edmond de Goncourt, with author's consignment and autograph note (1897, no. 235).