1900s Postcard Edition of Lamartine’s Poem Le Lac.
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DISCUSSION:
Here’s a charming and interesting way to share a poem- as a set of postcards. Le Lac (The Lake), published in 1820, is “one of the most famous poems of Lamartine”. Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine, Knight of Pratz [1790-1869] “was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France”. to make a long story short, he once had an affair with Julie Charles, wife of a famous physicist, and they trysted at Lac du Bourget. But in August, 1817 Julie was unable to keep their “date”, as she was dying of tuberculosis.
After her death the heartbroken poet tells (in a poem 16 quatrains long) how he returns to the lake alone, hoping to recapture their lost happiness. He “sighs at the memory of a star-lit night on the lake with his muse, and laments the onrush of time that relentlessly carries one away from such happy moments”. For 16 quatrains. The poem was a hit, bringing fame to the author, and has even been set to music by British composer David Matthews in 2019. But here we have a set of postcards, illustrated with various lake scenes, and portraits of Lamartine et Julie.
Card covers. 6”x3.5”, 12 black & white postcards with tissue interleaves. Some minor soil to the covers, light wear. The binding is very firm and there is really no way to open it enough to show the postcards without breaking it. The postcards are, in any case, unremarkable, being black & white stock scenes of lakes and countryside and such. The charm here is in the whole of the production, not the individual cards.
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Stock #53454
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