Théodore de BANVILLE (1823-1891). Autograph poem signed, La Censure, satire, July 1841; title and 8 pages and a quarter in-fol. (foxing). Long early poem. It has 190 lines, and seems never to have been collected in volume. It is dedicated on the title page "to my friend Victor Perrot" (an obscure playwright, to whom Banville dedicated his first collection, Les Cariatides, in 1842). In this satire, Banville denounces Louis-Philippard censorship, alluding to Philipon's famous caricature ("Le mot poire est rayé de tout dictionnaire"). "What wonder has changed, splendid Melpomène, Your divine harmony into a human voice? What spasm has brought forth these colorless dramas Pale echoes of cynical pain? What muse dictated these sad vaudevilles That go reeking through the air with their vile silliness, These operas in verse by Scribe, these ballets Which tire the eyes with their cold, ugly steps?"... Etc.