Charles Baudelaire returns to the literary present 148 years after his death. Although we would like to break the news that a lost manuscript of the famous French poet has been found, the news we bring today shows us what the writer was like.
The reason that the accursed poet returns to the pages of culture is that a Parisian publisher has published for the first time the proofs corrected by Baudelaire himself of his collection of poems. All the Flowers of evil.
The original manuscript of The flowers of Evil It was never found, so the first proof of the corrected press in the author's handwriting is the only handwritten sample we have of this masterpiece of poetry.
Before giving his final approval for the publication of the work, in 1857, Charles Baudelaire was very involved with his editor and friend Auguste Poulet-Malassis, noting and correcting the proofs of the press.
In these annotations we see a critical poet who crosses out and corrects with pen everything that seems wrong to him. In his annotations we see a detailed, picky, perfectionist Charles Baudelaire who corrects misplaced commas, asks to change the font, demands a change in the spelling of a word ... An ultra-demanding writer who seemed never to be satisfied with the result, bordering on the obsession with which he knew would be his life's work.
These corrected proofs were acquired by the National Library of France in 1998 at an auction for more than three million francs, about half a million euros.
This work could only be consulted until now in the digital catalog of the National Library of France, but thanks to Editions of the Saints Pères they are published for the first time in a numbered facsimile edition, which will have no more than 1.000 copies.
On sale at 189 euros, it is a gem that any bibliophile would like to have in his or her private library.