About this Item
(A Rebours) Against the Grain. J. K. Huysmans from the French by John Howard. Introduction by Havelock Ellis. Published in New York, Nineteen Twenty-Two (1922). Leiber & Lewis. First Edition in English. Original dust jacket with quote from Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. 331 pp, 8 x 5.5 , 8vo. In fair condition. Dust jacket exhibits the most wear with scuffed edges & toned spine/hinges. Normal soiling on dust jacket; head and tail exhibit small tears. Black cloth boards scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Head and tail of spine bumped. Gilt lettering dulled on spine; bright and clean on front board. Top edge sprayed orange (dulled/soiled). Cloth chipped a head of front hinge; binding exposed. Front gutter fragile at copyright page with some exposed cording. Normal age-related toning throughout text-block; mostly at edges of leaves. Some instances of finger-soiling found on fore-edges or bottom corners. Binding intact. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. À rebours (translated Against Nature or Against the Grain) is an 1884 novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848 - 1907). The narrative centers on a single character: Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive, ailing aesthete. The last scion of an aristocratic family, Des Esseintes loathes nineteenth-century bourgeois society and tries to retreat into an ideal artistic world of his own creation. The narrative is almost entirely a catalogue of the neurotic Des Esseintes's aesthetic tastes, musings on literature, painting, and religion, and hyperaesthesic sensory experiences. À rebours contains many themes that became associated with the Symbolist aesthetic. In doing so, it broke from Naturalism and became the ultimate example of "Decadent" literature, inspiring works such as Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)'s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). In his preface for the 1903 publication of the novel, Huysmans wrote that he had the idea to portray a man "soaring upwards into dream, seeking refuge in illusions of extravagant fantasy, living alone, far from his century, among memories of more congenial times, of less base surroundings . each chapter became the sublimate of a specialism, the refinement of a different art; it became condensed into an essence of jewellery, perfumes, religious and secular literature, of profane music and plain-chant." The original French Edition was published in lurid yellow wrappers to warn of the salacious content, is believed to have been the source of the name of The Yellow Book (published from 1894 to 1897), the British literary journal associated with decadence and aestheticism. This 1922 edition was somewhat abridged; the first full English translation was note published until 1926. First Edition in English with original dust jacket containing quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. RAREA1922DSTZ 06/24 - HK1818.
Seller Inventory # RAREA1922DSTZ
Contact seller
Report this item
