THE NEW DON QUIXOTE; or, The Wonderful Adventures of Tartarin of Tarascon. / Translated from the French, by C. Roland.
Boston: William F. Gill & Co., 1875. First edition by Gill & Co.; Second American Edition (after Fuller). Decorative Cloth. 16mo (6 7/8" x 4 3/4"), reddish brown vertically-ribbed cloth with gilt lettering to spine and more elaborate gilt title and blindstamping on front cover, dark green-coated endpapers, i-iv, [5]-128 pages. Good / None. Item #486
A scarce, somewhat philosophical--though amusing--hunting fantasy by Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897).
After fledgling starts in poetry, the drama, and journalism, Daudet achieved considerable success with humorous Tartarin de Tarascon (1872), which he followed up with Tartarin sur les Alpes, and Port-Tarascon. Thenceforth, he became a moderately successful French man of letters who devoted himself mainly to writing novels. He was also a friend of Mallarmé for whom Daudet contributed some short pieces to La deniere mode.
The first American edition of this book was published by H. B. Fuller, also of Boston, in 1874.
Finding no British imprints at this early date after the French publication of the Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon by Daudet in 1872, we assume that the Fuller printing is also the First English language publication.
The Gill & Co. publication is its first publication of Tartarin, but in the year after Fuller's edition.
We have not been able to physically compare or collate the editions to see if Gill reprinted Fuller.
Binding tight with pages clean though moderately and uniformly age-toned. Foxing on the front endpapers through the title page (also lighter foxing on the last two pages); rubbing and some losses of cloth edges along extremities, corners, and more along the lower front gutter edge of the spine.
Price: $50.00