DURAS (Claire de). - Lot 46

DURAS (Claire de). Ourika. [Colophon]: Paris: Royal Printing Office, [1823]. — In-12, 165 x 96: 108 pp. Dark blue morocco leather, with a pattern of gold fillets and blind-stamped scrolls framing the covers, blind-stamped fleurons at the corners, decorated ribbed spine, gold-stamped scroll on the inside, gilt edges (Simier R. du roi). Rahir, *Bibliothèque de l’amateur*, p. 411. - Carteret, I, 250. - Escoffier, *Le Mouvement romantique 1788–1850*, no. 496 (erroneous collation). A first edition of exceptional rarity, published anonymously and printed in a few dozen copies on vellum paper, never sold commercially. *Ourika* is a small masterpiece that tells the story of a young African slave girl, brought from Senegal at the age of two and raised in France. Forgetting her race and her station in life, she falls in love with a man who, due to the prejudices of the time, will never be able to marry her. This novel is one of the first French literary works to explore relationships—particularly romantic ones—between people of different races. According to sources, between 12 and 50 copies of this edition were printed, but the author indicated in a January 1824 letter to Rosalie de Constant that this “trial run” did not exceed 30 copies, which were reserved for her friends. It is the first novel printed by the Royal Printing Office. A rare first-edition copy, notably featuring the Byron quote on the title page—the only one cited by Carteret—bound at the time by René Simier in his capacity as the king’s bookbinder. The hinges and corners have been skillfully restored, though a small tear is visible at the hinge of the front cover.