Paris, Denys Thierry, 1691.
4to [252 x 185 mm] of (1) bl.l., (6) ll., 1 engraved frontispiece, 87 pp. A small hole in the margin p. 40. Bound in contemporary full granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, mottles edges. Contemporary binding.
First edition of Racine’s last great tragedy, often considered as his master-piece, with an engraved frontispiece by J. Mariette from J.-B. Corneille.
Tchemerzine, V, 350 ; Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, VI, 15 ; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 601 ; Brunet, IV, 1083 ; Le Petit, Bibliographie des éditions originales, 377-379 ; Guibert, Bibliographie des Œuvres de Jean Racine, 107-110.
Composed at the request of Louis XIV and Madam de Maintenon, Athalie was first presented by the students of Saint-Cyr, in the greatest simplicity, with no décor or costume, during the months of January and February 1691.
Often considered as Racine’s master-piece, the play was strongly appreciated by the private group in front of who it was played. However it was played for the public only after the author’s death, on March, 3rd, 1716, in the Théâtre-Français.
In this luminous play Racine depicted brilliantly the confrontation between good and evil and the deeply moving and grand drama of the queen.
The author renewed his art, close to the Greek theatre by the continue action, while enriching the show with beautiful chorus, set to music by Jean-Baptiste Moreau.
« ‘Athalie’ was Racine’s last play and his last master-piece » (Guibert).
This tragedy was not truly consecrated until the nineteenth century, when the Romantics saw in Athalie “one of the peaks of French poetry”.
Beautiful copy very pure, preserved in its contemporary binding, of one of our greatest classical tragedies.
