*BAUDELAIRE (Charles).

*BAUDELAIRE (Charles).

Les Fleurs du Mal. Preceded by a notice by Théophile GAUTIER. Second edition. Paris, Michel Lévy, 1869. In-12 bradel gray half-percaline, brown morocco title page on spine, initials L. C. on tail (contemporary binding). Definitive edition with many new poems. Frontispiece portrait of the author (with facsimile signature) after Carjat's photograph, engraved by A. Nargeot. The preface by Théophile Gautier, dedicatee of the original 1857 edition, is here in the original edition. In addition to the 126 poems of the second edition, this definitive first edition of Les Fleurs du mal includes twenty-five new pieces, including the previously unpublished sonnet to Théodore de Banville. The famous poem Au lecteur ("[...] - Hypocrite lecteur, - mon semblable, - mon frère!") concludes the preface to this edition.