[TALMA]. [TYPOGRAPHY]. Paris, 1807-1836, 8 works bound in one vol.

François Joseph Talma (1763-1826) was a French actor. He made his debut in 1787 at the Comédie-Française as Seide in Voltaire’s Mahomet. Talma was a close friend of Napoleon and traveled at times with the Emperor, performing for crowned heads of Europe. By the 1820s he had become the dominant actor of the Comédie-Française.

(22 x 14 cm). Bound in late 19th cen. red cloth with title label in gilt on the spine.

This valuable ensemble gathers 8 exceedingly scarce works and ephemeral works dedicated to one of the leading actors of his generation, including pieces written both before and after his death in 1826—with two works related to Madame Talma, the actress Caroline Vanhove, who displaced Talma’s first wife Julie Carreau, in 1802. The volume, whose contributors to the texts preserved here were all involved with the theater, offers an exceptional perspective on Talma’s contemporary reception.

The volume offers a representative sample of early 19th century typefaces and ornaments.

Full Description: TALMA sammelband

I. LEMERCIER (Népomucène-Louis): Épître à Talma. Paris, Léopold Collin [Imprimerie de Gratiot], 1807. [4], 5-13 pp.
Louis-Népomucène Lemercier (1771-1840), was a poet and dramatist who began his career under the protection of Marie Antoinette at the tender age of 17. The epistle is composed in alexandrine couplets.

II. BELMONTET (Louis): Talma, dithyrambe, présenté à lui-même le 26 mai 1819, dédié à MM. les étudians en droit de la Faculté de Toulouse. Toulouse, F. Vieusseux, s.d. [1819], 8 pp.
Louis Belmontet (1798-1879) was a poet and politician who was close to Népomucène Lemercier. He also penned an Epistle for Napoleon upon the Emperor’s death. Belmontet was part of the circle of Romantic poets that included Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Charles Nodier et Delphine Gay.

III. [DUCRET (Henri):] Ode à la mémoire de Talma. Paris, Imprimerie de Selligue, 1827. 7 pp.
This very scarce ode is signed in type at the end “H.D.” The author attribution is from the BnF catalog.

IV. VILLENAVE (Mathieu-Guillaume-Thérèse): Notice sur Madame Vve Talma née Vanhove, aujourd'hui comtesse de Chalot. Meudon et Vaugirard, J. Delacour, 1836. Title page, xxviij pp., plus a lithograph frontispiece portrait of Mme Caroline Talma.
Mathieu-Guillaume-Thérèse Villenave (1762-1846), was an attorney, journalist, intellectual, and bibliophile who was close to Germaine de Staël. The present text comprises the preliminaries from a longer work by Caroline Talma, Études sur l'Art thêâtral, Paris, 1836. The present text gives a summary of much of her acting career.

V. VANHOVE (Caroline): Épître à Talma. Paris, Imprimerie de Lefebvre, 1821, 8 pp.
Only the BnF lists this title in OCLC. Caroline Vanhove (1771-1860) was an actress who appeared in dozens of plays between 1785-1810; she was imprisoned along with a dozen other actors in 1793 for a performance of a play based on Samuel Richardson’s Pamela that was judged seditious for two of its lines. She was also Talma’s second wife. The two actors had a tumultuous relationship until Talma’s death in 1826. The widow Talma then married the Comte de Chalot, and she was known as the Comtesse de Chalot for the rest of her days..

VI. CHEROT (J.-D.): Épître à Mr. Talma, sociétaire du Théâtre Français et pensionnaire du Roi. Paris, Imprimerie de Dondey-Dupré, 1821, 8 pp.
The author is identified from the title page. A particularly rare title, like all of those here, OCLC lists 2 copies (NbF and UWisc).

VII. LAUGIER (Adolphe) et MOTTET (Ambroise): Notice sur Talma. Paris, Duvernois, 1826. [2], ii, 30 pp. With the original printed wrappers preserved. First edition.
The Notice serves as a tribute and obituary for Talma, who died on Oct 19, 1826. Adolphe Laugier was an attorney and journalist who write about the theatre, active in the middle of the 19th century. Ambroise Mottet (1792-1862) was briefly mayor of Aix-en-Provence and a deputy in the Vaucluse. Laugier and Mottet collaborated on Galerie biographique des artistes dramatiques des théâtres royaux, Paris , Ponthieu , 1826-27. A scarce tribute with only 3 copies listed in OCLC.

VIII. MAGNIEN (Hippolyte): Talma n'est plus !!! Hommage à sa mémoire... Paris, 1826. [4], 5-11 pp., The text of this tribute is duplicated in two separate printings, one on smaller cheaper paper, with the original publisher’s printed wrappers preserved. First edition.
Hippolyte Magnien also authored a number of plays. He was active in the mid-19th century. Hi homage to Talma is listed in only 3 copies in OCLC.