Sesame et les Lys: Des Trésors des Rois, des Gardins des Reines [Sesame and Lilies].

RUSKIN, John. Translated by Marcel Proust.

Item Number: 395809

Paris: Societe de Mercure de France, 1906.

First edition of Proust’s second book, a translation of Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies. Octavo, original wrappers. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “A Monsieur Gaston Griolet. Hommage admiratif et respectueux du traducteur Marcel Proust.” The recipient, Gaston Griolet was a lawyer and private banker and close personal friend of Proust’s. He served as the Honorary Master of Requests to the Council of State, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord,  Secretary of the Conference of Lawyers (1865-1866) and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (appointed in 1924). In near fine condition.

It was after several years of reading Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Ruskin that Proust refined his theories of art and the role of the artist in society. Ruskin's view of artistic production was central to Proust's own theory which concluded that the artist's responsibility was to confront the appearance of nature, deduce its essence and retell or explain that essence in the work of art. Ruskin's work was so important to Proust that he claimed to know "by heart" several of Ruskin's books, including The Seven Lamps of Architecture, The Bible of Amiens, and Praeterita. In the late 1800s, Proust set out to translate two of Ruskin's works into French, but was hampered by an imperfect command of English. To compensate for this he made his translations a group affair: sketched out by his mother, the drafts were first revised by Proust, then by Marie Nordlinger, the English cousin of his friend and sometime lover Reynaldo Hahn, then finally polished by Proust. The Bible of Amiens, with Proust's extended introduction, was published in French in 1904. Both the translation and the introduction were well-reviewed. At the time of this publication, Proust was already translating Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, which he completed in June 1905, just before his mother's death, and published in 1906.