MUSSET, Alfred de.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Oeuvres [and] Biographie. A particularly handsome set of the author's collected poetry, plays, and prose, described by Musset's bibliographer in 1883 as "la meilleure [édition] de celles qui existent"; here uniformly bound with a biography by the author's brother, Paul de Musset. The binding is by one of the period's finest Parisian binderies, Lanscelin, the reputation of which was notably upheld by the founder's widow.Prior to the 20th century, women traditionally entered the book trade as binders, printers, and publishers by taking over the businesses of their late husbands. Madame Lanscelin achieved particular success with this career path: in 1894, she won a bronze medal at the International Paris Book Exhibit and the jury commended her while acknowledging the additional challenges she faced: "it is difficult for a woman alone to maintain the reputation of a firm whose (male) head has passed away" (cited in Silverman, p. 195).

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