Antique Book Victorine Ackerman Women Writers Victor Hugo Poetry Romanticism

Two in-12 volumes (complete) containing The Adventures of Telemachus, Son of Ulysses by Fénelon [The Adventures of Telemachus]. A stereotype edition printed by the prestigious presses of Pierre Didot the Elder and Firmin Didot in Paris in 1818.

A major historical provenance:

This work is of outstanding historical and literary interest thanks to its period price label (ex-praemio) pasted on the inside back cover. It was awarded on August 24, 1830, to the young Victorine Choquet (1813–1890), then 17 years old.
Under her married name, Louise Ackermann, she would become one of the greatest French philosophical poets of the 19th century, acclaimed by her peers for the power and depth of her verse.
This two-volume work crowned her “First Prize in Versification” in the top class, marking the true beginning of her literary vocation. It was precisely that year, in 1830, that she composed her very first memorable poems while at boarding school.

The year 1830 plunged the young girl into the midst of the Romantic Revolution. A passionate teenager, Louise Choquet devoured and imitated the works of Victor Hugo. Captivated by his student’s precocious genius, her literature teacher at the boarding school, Félix Biscarrat (himself a close friend and correspondent of the master), submitted the young girl’s verses directly to Victor Hugo in hopes of receiving his encouragement. Later in her career, she would dedicate one of her major poems, Le Déluge, to the leading figure of Romanticism.
This poetry prize, awarded at age 17, stands as a personal testament to that pivotal period when she was forging her style under the master’s watchful eye.

Madame Daubrée’s Institution
The prize was awarded at the exclusive Institution de Mme Daubrée, a renowned private boarding school for young women from good families located at 9 Rue du Barbette, in the historic Marais district of Paris. This institution was dedicated to providing a literary and rhetorical education of the highest caliber

Binding: Full green sheepskin from the period, smooth spine richly decorated with gilded panels, laurel scrolls framing the covers, gilt edges.

In fine condition, with sturdy bindings and bright gilding; slight normal wear on the fore-edges and headbands; scattered age spots

13 cm x 8.5 cm
Shipping included for France