[RELIURE MAROQUIN] GAUTIER, Le Roi Candaule, 1893

Illustrated edition of 21 compositions by Paul Avril.

"King Candaule has become drunk with the beauty of his wife Nyssia. He conceives the strange project of sharing his admiration as an aesthete by proposing to the young and handsome Gyges, the head of the palace guards, to come and secretly see his wife in her simple nudity. Horrified by this sacrilegious request, Gyges refuses at first but can only obey his king. Hidden in the bridal chamber, Gyges discovers the incredible beauty of Nyssia and immediately falls in love with her."

One of the 250 copies on Arches, ours n°338.

Good copy in signed binding.
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