MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN

VOLUME ONE

BY

THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

THE REALISTS

PRINTED BY

GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, PHILADELPHIA

1897

THIS EDITION OF

MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN

HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRANSLATED

BY

I. G. BURNHAM

THE ETCHINGS ARE BY

FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LE SUEUR

AND DRAWINGS BY

ÉDOUARD TOUDOUZE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN—VOLUME I

MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN Front.
THE IMAGINARY MISTRESS
FIRST MEETING WITH ROSETTE
EPISODE OF THE "TOILETTE DE BAL"
D'ALBERT AND ROSETTE
THE ARRIVAL OF THÉODORE
THÉODORE AND THE PAGE
ROSETTE'S MORNING AUDIENCE
THE ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE

This celebrated novel, the celebrity of which has not been lessened bythe very numerous editions that have been published, had a very modestbeginning which in no way foreshadowed the great success which it wasto obtain later.

The title: Mademoiselle de Maupin—Double Love appeared, we believe,for the first time in Renduel's catalogue in connection with The Lifeof Hoffman, by Lœve-Weimars, which appeared in October, 1833,announcing the new work of Théophile Gautier as being in press. Renduelhad made the acquaintance of the author at Victor Hugo's; he hadpublished in August, 1833, his first volume of prose, Young France,and now it was a question of launching a work in two volumes, a trulydaring undertaking for a publisher of that day; especially in the caseof the work of an author but little known and only twenty-two yearsold.

Mademoiselle de Maupin was not, however, destined to see the light sosoon. For two years Théophile Gautier, more enamored of freedom than ofwork, or preferring the task of making two harmonious rhymes to all thebeauties of his learned and rhythmic prose, incessantly abandoned andresumed the promised work. A tradition preserved in the family of thepoet tells how his father often shut him up in his room at that time,forbidding him to leave it until he had completed a certain number ofpages of the Grotesques or of Mademoiselle de Maupin. When thematernal kindness did not come to his aid, the frolicsome author, whothen lived with his parents on Place Royale, often found the meansof getting away by the window and so escaping a paternal task. Suchescapades being frequently renewed, it may well be believed that thenovel made but little progress; 1834 was drawing to a close; only thefirst of the two volumes was finished; the publisher complained, andthe author tried to pacify him by notes similar to the following:

"I have just discovered at a bric-à-brac dealer's a charming picture ofBoucher in a splendid state of preservation; it is an opportunity thatI do not wish to

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