GONCOURT (de), Edmond. La maison d’un Artiste.
Paris: Charpentier, 1881.

Octavo (187 × 122 mm). Two volumes. Vol. I: (4) ff., 357 pp., (1) f.; Vol. II: (2) ff., 382 pp., (1) f.
Original printed wrappers, modern chemise and slipcase.

First edition, on standard paper, after 10 copies on Chine and 50 on Holland.
Extraordinarily rare presentation copy inscribed by Edmond de Goncourt to Guy de Maupassant:
“à Guy de Maupassant / souvenir amical / Ed Goncourt”.

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) is mentioned 167 times in the Journal des Goncourt: “a small number if one considers the importance given to other contemporaries and the twenty years of his presence in the Journal; yet it seems too many when one reads Edmond’s bitter reflections on the author of Bel-Ami.” (Benhamou).

Published in 1881, La Maison d’un artiste describes Edmond de Goncourt’s celebrated “house-museum” in Auteuil. Far more than a catalogue of objects, the work forms an intellectual self-portrait and an aesthetic credo, an attempt to preserve through prose what his private museum could not eternise. It is a text suspended in time, blending the spirit of the nineteenth-century cabinet of curiosities with a modern sensibility.

Through his descriptions of paintings, prints, textiles, sculptures, and books, Goncourt evokes a particular vision of the nineteenth century—delicate, Japoniste, enamoured of refinement. The work naturally extends the Journal written with his brother Jules: the same acuity, precision, and determination to preserve a threatened elegance are present throughout.

Presentation copies to Maupassant are exceptionally rare.
For comparison, a copy of Nana (1880) inscribed by Zola to Maupassant realised $32,500 at Christie’s New York in 2021.

This is Maupassant’s own working copy, which he used in preparing his article “Maison d’artiste”, published in Le Gaulois on 12 March 1881 to coincide with the book’s release.

Goncourt’s book inspired some of Maupassant’s finest descriptive criticism; a few excerpts from his article:

“It is not a philosophical work like Idées et sensations; it is the history of his furniture.”

“He possesses today the most beautiful and the most complete collection of eighteenth-century French art.”

“From the moment one enters, one knows one is in the house of a lover of curiosities.”

“The walls everywhere are lined with books, precious books, of which he gives us the detailed catalogue. In the drawers lie priceless Japanese albums worth fortunes. He was perhaps the first to understand the artistic value, the grace, and the charm of this Japanese art from which our painters now draw inspiration.”

“Next to the room displaying these marvels is another, a masterpiece of colour… a ‘means of inspiration’, the cabinet of cerebral excitation.”

“The ground floor belongs to the eighteenth century. The collection is unique… Here are Watteau, that master among the greatest, Boucher, Fragonard, Chardin… A priceless mantelpiece garniture by Clodion.”

Skillfully restored spines; scattered foxing. A unique and important association copy, central to the literary history of the nineteenth century.

References: Vicaire III, 1061–2; Carteret I, 359; Benhamou, Noëlle, “Maupassant dans le Journal des Goncourt,” Cahiers Edmond et Jules de Goncourt no. 10 (2003), pp. 283–304.