1st ed., small 4to, decorated cloth, 52 pp+. on handmade paper, deckled edges. The first edition in English, translated from the French by Samuel Putnam. Number 415 of 650 copies. One of de Sade's earlier works, but from an unpublished manuscript first published in France in 1926. The work expresses the author's atheism by having a dying man tell a priest about what he views as the mistakes of a pious life. deSade completed the notebook which contains the Dialogue while imprisoned at Château de Vincennes. He took the manuscript with him when he was transferred to the Bastille in 1784.
Following the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, deSade's manuscript survived in private collections and was sold on at auction a number of times during the nineteenth century. In 1920 it was bought by Maurice Heine who oversaw its publication in France for the first time in 1926 in a limited edition of 500 copies for which he wrote an introduction. This first English translation includes Heine's introduction.
This copy ex Libris Al Bridge with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Bridge was an American character actor, a fixture in 1940's westerns and in ten films for director Preston Sturges. Bridge also appeared frequently on television until his death in 1957.
CONDITION: Good; the text block is near fine with bright, tight pages. Covers have moderate surface wear but heavily rubbed/bumped at the corners with a 1.5" partial split at the upper spine. Gutter of the front paste-down just starting to crack about 3"
Title: DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PRIEST AND A DYING MAN
Edition: 1st U.S. edition
Created: 1927
Country of Origin: USA
Location Published: Chicago, Pascal Covici: 1927
Book Condition: Good
Type: Book
Categories: Literature, Philosophy
Seller ID: k221017b
Keywords: atheism, essays, fine printing, france, philosophy, religion, small press