Lot 136
Fairy tales - Nodier, Charles
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 29 August 2012 at 12:00 BST
Description
Manuscript of "The astonishing history of Treasure-Trove and Peas Blossom, translated from the French and illustrated with original designs by a totally unknown artist. 1865", an English translation of Nodier's fairy tale Trésor des fèves et fleur des pois (1833), written in brown ink, dated at the head "24 March 1865", the margins decorated with pen and ink drawings of flowers and plants, animals, people, towns etc., with 15 small drawings illustrating the story (65 x 55mm and smaller) on card, set into the text, 62 pages, 205 x 165mm., blank leaves, 19th century blue morocco, gilt title ("Lady Macarthy's Treasure Trove M.S.S."), bookplate of Robert, Marquess of Crewe
Footnote
Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire
Note: Charles Nodier, librarian of the Arsenal, philologist and author of romantic novels, wrote this popular tale of a poor couple who adopt an infant boy discovered in their beanfield and of the child's subsequent adventures, in 1833, the year of his election to the French Academy. Several English editions followed, and the present manuscript with its imaginative and delicate illustrations suggests the continuing affection in which the story was held in the mid 19th century" [Christie's, 26 November 1997, lot 87].