Chéri

First published in 1920, this French novel is set in the Paris of rich courtesans. Lea de Lonval, in her late forties, has for years kept Fred Peloux, called Cheri, the beautiful, idle son of a rival. When his mother arranges his marriage to the young Edmee, the affair must end, and Cheri finds that neither marriage nor a return to Lea restores the life he had. The book stays with rooms, jewels, bodies, and the daily management of pleasure. It is a novel of an age-unequal love ending, not a biography of the demimonde.

Bound in black, dark red-brown, dark green or pink artificial silk binding blocked with a cover design in gold by Brian Paine. Pink endleaves. Green and black slipcase.