GAUTIER Théophile. Histoire du romantisme, suivie de notices romantiques et d'une étude sur la poésie française 1830-1868. 
Paris: Charpentier & Cie, 1874.

12mo (190 × 127 mm). (3) ff., VI–410 pp., (1) f. Full red morocco, covers with gilt double fillet and blind panel, spine gilt in compartments with raised bands and corner tools, gilt edges; original printed wrappers and backstrip preserved. Slipcase by J. Faki.

With: 
— Recueil sur l'Histoire du romantisme. 
Paris: Le Bien public, 1872. 4to (287 × 212 mm). 115 ff. Contemporary red half-morocco, spine gilt in compartments.

First edition. One of 50 numbered copies on Holland paper, the only large-paper issue.
A well-preserved example, bound in period style and retaining the original wrappers. Mounted in the front pastedown is an original photographic portrait of Gautier by Nadar, on the photographer’s card.

Gautier’s Histoire du romantisme, first issued in serial form in Le Bien public in 1872, is regarded as a principal source for the history of French Romanticism. Poet, critic, and central figure of the 1830 generation, Gautier provides a first-hand account of the movement’s origins, its leading personalities, and its early disputes. The volume also includes the Notices romantiques and his study of French poetry from 1830 to 1868.

The accompanying dossier is a substantial contemporary compilation relating to the first publication and early reception of the work. It comprises press clippings of the first eleven chapters as serialised in Le Bien public; the autograph manuscript of Gautier’s obituary of Philoxène Boyer (published in the Revue des Théâtres); an envelope of the Moniteur universel addressed to Gautier; an engraved portrait by Célestin Nanteuil; a biographical notice from the Musée universel; and several other contemporary documents.

A pencilled note attributes the ensemble to the library of Philothée O’Neddy (Théophile Dondey, 1811–1875), one of the romantiques frénétiques and an early companion of Gautier, to whom Gautier devotes a full chapter (pp. 62–69). Although absent from the catalogue of O’Neddy’s posthumous sale, the attribution is coherent. Of particular interest is a fragment of red silk accompanying Chapter X, La Légende du gilet rouge, traditionally associated with the red waistcoat worn by O’Neddy at the première of Hernani. A copy of L’Éclipse, no. 67 (1869), devoted to Gautier, is also included.

References: Vicaire III, 938; Carteret I, 335.