JANIN (Jules-Gabriel): Barnave. Paris, Alexandre Messier et - Lot 217

JANIN (Jules-Gabriel): Barnave. Paris, Alexandre Messier et Levavasseur, 1831. 4 volumes. 10.5 by 18 cm. (4)-XLVIII-244; (4)-285-(2); (4)-240; (4)-268 pages. Contemporary midnight-blue bradel half-maroquin with corners, ornate spines, covers and spine preserved, untrimmed. Some rubbing, spines uniformly sunned. A fine copy. First edition. Enriched with a handwritten bill from Jules JANIN. Carteret, Le trésor du bibliophile romantique, I-p. 450; J.-M. Bailbé, Barnave, Une rêverie sur la Révolution, in Revue d'histoire littéraire (July-October 1990), pp. 692-704. Famous legitimist historical novel. "In his preface, the author makes no secret of his attitude; it's a diatribe against Louis-Philippe and a testimony of complete loyalty to the Bourbons. It's a veritable pamphlet. However, if we remove what Janin would later refer to in 1846 as "le fatras politique" from the book, it takes on a completely different character. The work of circumstance, the book of opposition, becomes a kind of romantic meditation on the great figures of the early years of the Revolution, right up to the return from Varennes. Highlighting the naïve corruption of an era that lost its way by dint of analyzing everything, Janin wanted to bring to the fore four essential characters: Marie-Antoinette, who represents misfortune in a monarchy that is still beautiful and strong; Mirabeau, who imposes his talent, the popular genius with all his ardor; Barnave, who personifies virtue with his elegant manners and flowery language; finally Frédéric, the young German lord who is an honest man, an astonished witness to the virtues, vices and weaknesses of the time. [...] Nerval wrote to J. Janin on November 16, 1843: "I love this book, as you know, above all else. It is the truest thing I know, from my point of view, about the Revolution". It's clear that, for Janin, behind 1830 loomed the frightening specter of 1793. He was a Legitimist, frightened by the social unrest that followed 1830, with the sickly fear it inspired in him. The Revolution, an incoherent period, is what the novelist wants to show through the eyes of the German prince. People are disoriented, activities indecisive, a breath of death alters the vision of progress. Janin constantly contrasts the eighteenth-century spirit he favors, 'grand, sublime, bold', with the crude instincts implied by the Revolution." (Bailbé). By the author of L'Âne mort.