La Cathédrale

HUYSMANS (Joris-Karl). La Cathédrale.
Paris: Stock, 1898.

8vo (185 × 125 mm). (1) f., 488 pp., (1) f. Half red morocco with corners, raised bands, gilt lettering and date on spine, top edge gilt; original wrappers preserved.

First edition, with an author’s presentation inscription to Monsieur Natanson.
The third major phase in Huysmans’s career begins with En route (1895) and continues here, in the second volume of the so-called Trilogy of Conversion, which follows Durtal through spiritual unease, longing, and the search for transcendence. La Cathédrale is both a psychological novel and an extended meditation on Chartres, symbolism and sacred art, and remains strikingly resonant today for its exploration of meaning in a disoriented world.

A good copy, solid and clean, with a distinguished and desirable authorial association.