POUGENS (Marie-Charles-Joseph de). Jocko. Preceded by a noti - Lot 107

POUGENS (Marie-Charles-Joseph de). Jocko. Preceded by a notice by Anatole France. Paris, Charavay, 1881. In-16, paperback. Vicaire, VI-792 /// (1f.)-XXI-139-(3f.). An etching frontispiece by Frédéric Régamey. An astonishing scientific novel by Marie-Charles-Joseph de Pougens, a literary scholar believed to be the natural son of the Prince de Conti, who was afflicted with smallpox and became almost blind at the age of 24, then fell victim to a charlatan who gouged out his eyes. Despite his blindness, he carried out a great deal of scientific research. A friend of Chénier and d'Alembert, he published numerous works. The tale Jocko, about animal instinct, features a female monkey from the island of Ceylon who befriends a man. Edition of 392 copies, this one of 350 on tinted vellum, here enriched with an autograph letter signed on a flyleaf, to mon cher et illustre maître / Théodore de Banville / l'éditeur de cette bagatelle / Anatole France. Théodore de Banville was already a master of Parnasse by the time Anatole France was trying to make a name for himself, but their relationship became closer when they were both commissioned, along with François Coppée, to select the poems to be included in the third contemporary Parnasse. First cover detached, with minor damage to spine.