MARINETTI (Filippo Tommaso). Mafarka the Futurist. An African Novel. Paris: E. Sansot & Cie, 1909. — In-18, 172 x 124: 310 pp., (1 blank folio), printed cover. Paperback. First edition of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s first novel, written in French. Mafarka is a Futurist and eclectic work that blends mythology, symbolism, and adventure. The story follows Mafarka-el-Bahr, an Arab king at war with his uncle Boubassa. After putting an end to a violent scene of “the rape of Black women,” he uses trickery to sow discord among the enemy. The death of his brother Magamal, killed by rabid dogs, drives him on a mournful journey into the Hypogea. To ease his pain, he creates Gazourmah, a mechanical being endowed with melodious wings, destined to fly “along the curve of the earth .” But Gazourmah rebels, challenges the Sun and the Sea, and then takes flight, realizing “the great dream of total music.” This allegorical novel celebrates artistic creation, rebellion against the past, and the drive toward a technological and poetic future (Barbara Meazzi, *Mafarka the Futurist, or the Mythological Imposture of Futurism*, Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal, 2003, pp. 301–315). A copy belonging to Aurélien Lugné-Poe (1869–1940), a French actor and director, a major figure in Symbolism and the theatrical revival, enriched by this autographed dedication by the author on the second blank endpaper: to my dear friend // Lugné Poe // tribute // of profound // intellectual // admiration // F. T. Marinetti As the founder of the Théâtre de l’Œuvre (1893), Lugné-Poe played a decisive role in bringing Marinetti’s Futurist works to Paris, notably by staging *Le Roi Bombance* (1905) at the Théâtre Marigny. Very well-preserved copy. Provenance: Aurélien Lugné Poe, with a dedication and bookplate stamp. - Bernard Roy, with bookplate.