Hombres (Hommes) by Paul Verlaine

VERLAINE, Paul. Hombres (Hommes). [Paris], ‘Imprimé à Stamboul sous le manteau du Calife Mahomet l’année de l’Hegire 1327’, [1909].

Scarce second edition of this scandalous collection of erotic poetry, including ‘Le Sonnet du trou du cul’ (The Sonnet to an Asshole), a collaborative poem by Verlaine and his lover Arthur Rimbaud.

The collection Hombres was explicitly inspired by Paul Verlaine’s love affair with Arthur Rimbaud. First published in 1903, seven years after the author’s death, it omitted the date and place of publication to elude censorship and police intervention. The 1909 second edition, similarly undated and unsourced, was limited to just 207 copies (‘trois fois 69’). The present copy, number 10, belonged to John Hayward, possibly the renowned English editor, critic, anthologist, and bibliophile (see pencil annotations to front fly-leaf).

Small quarto, pp. 52; near fine, in the original wrappers with fold-over flaps, front cover printed in red and black (covers slightly soiled, text block partly detached from spine, spined slightly sunned).