LOTI (Pierre). - Lot 64

LOTI (Pierre). Reflections on the Dark Road. Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1899. — In-18, 185 x 116: (2 ff.), 354 pp., (1 f.), printed cover. Red half-maroquin with corner pieces, double gilt fillets, richly decorated ribbed spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Semet and Plumelle). First edition of this collection of 16 texts or articles, some of which had previously been published in *Le Figaro*, *La Revue de Paris*, or *La Nouvelle Revue*. These are memories—both old and recent—presented in the book in no particular chronological order. Notably included is “Ma parente du Sénégal,” first published in *Le Figaro* in 1897, in which he recounts the story of Marie-Félicité, an elderly mixed-race woman from Gorée, the unacknowledged daughter of a European who had been missing for decades, who turned out to be the daughter of his elderly childhood neighbor, a former officer whose stories about Senegal had left a lasting impression on him. Another text, *Mes dernières chasses*, brings together two adventure stories, the first of which recounts the hunt for a monkey. One of 75 numbered copies on Holland paper (No. 75), the only large-format edition with 25 Japanese prints, beautifully bound by Semet and Plumelle. Very well-preserved copy.