La-Bas. Paris: Georges Crès et Cie., 1912.
Octavo. [iv], 497, [3] pp., with frontispiece portrait of the author. Title in red and black, with woodcut printer’s device; woodcut ornaments, head- and tail-pieces. Half morocco and marbled boards, with the original printed wrappers bound in, morocco sunned, otherwise a very good, uncut copy.
One of 950 copies printed on Papier de Rives, this controversial work was first published in serial format in 1891 in the French newspaper L’Echo de Paris. Often translated into English as “The Damned†or “Down-There,†it was one of the first works to discuss in detail Satanism in contemporary France. Full of rich detail and biting wit, it introduced the character Durtal, who appeared in many of Huysman’s later novels.
Born Charles-Marie-Georges, Huysmans (1848-1907) who came from a family of Dutch painters, published his work under the name Joris Karl (the Dutch equivalent of his French name). Much of his early work was considered to be naturalistic, and for this he drew the attention of much of his contemporaries, including Zola. His later works were notorious for their depictions of homosexuality and Satanism, and his novel A Rebours was famously used as evidence in the Oscar Wilde trials. His other works include Le Drageoir à Épices; La Bièvre and La Cathédrale.
Englisch, Geschichte der Erotischen Literatur, II, p. 523; Vicaire, Manuel de l’amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, 1801-1893, I, p. 476 (First Edition)
ID:
3581
$
250