L'Ile des Pingouins. With autograph inscription signed.
Paris, Calmann-Levy, 1908.
8vo. (4), XV, (1), 419, (1) pp. Contemporary half cloth with giltstamped spine label; original printer wrappers bound within.
€ 1,200.00
First edition of this splendid satire in which a colony of penguins is accidentally baptized and subsequently undergoes all the stages of the development of European history. As much an example of the productiveness of satire in the vein of Rabelais and Swift as a striking precursor to modern Science Fiction.
Half-title bears author's signed autograph inscription to the writer and politician Maurice Spronck (1861-1921): "À Maurice Spronck, souvenir affectueux. Anatole France".
Bottom and fore-edge untrimmed.
References
Carteret I, 293. KLL 474 7f.