STENDHAL Marie-Henri Beyle dit La Chartreuse de Parme.

Carteret II, 358; Clouzot 151; Lhermitte 567; Vicaire I, 458.

First edition of one of Stendhal’s masterpieces.

This work is remarkable for its highly sophisticated rendering of human psychology and its subtly drawn portraits. The novel is set mainly in the court of Parma, Italy, in the early 19th century.

“Never before have the hearts of princes, ministers, courtiers, and women been depicted like this,” wrote French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac. “Stendhal’s tableau has the dimensions of a fresco but the precision of the Dutch masters.”

A very fine copy from the library of Giannalisa Feltrinelli.

Provenance : Giannalisa Feltrinelli (bookplate, 7th portion, 11 December 2001, lot 2091).