*Stéphane MALLARMÉ - [Félicien ROPS]. Les Poésies photolithographiées du manuscrit définitif. Paris, Éditions de la Revue Indépendante, [fin septembre?] 1887, 9 issues bound in 1 vol. in-4 maroquin jans. vert sapin, lined with maroq. grenat set with a gilt fillet, dark green silk endpapers, all 9 covers gilt, (Marius Michel). First edition printed in an edition of 47 copies on Japon impérial, including 7 hors commerce (a proof copy of the removal of the stones is printed). One of 40, numbered 25 à la presse on each cover, which elegantly bears at top left, in small type, this copy no., the title of the collection, the issue no. and in red the titles of the poems, and in the upper right-hand corner the small black mark of La Revue Indépendante stamped with the director's initials ED [cf. 49]. The covers are on "papier-feutre, raisin, de la manufacture de Tokio" (cf. prospectus below). Publication of the 9 issues: The 1st issue is announced as "just published" in the rare subscription bulletin inserted in the supplement to La Revue Indépendante of [May 1] 1887 (enclosed with the copy). In fact, it only appeared a few days later, as we know that Mallarmé began his copy on April 26. With the copy completed on August 17, the 9th and final cahier was probably published at the end of September 1887, as announced by the completion of the 4th cover of La Revue Indépendante of [1] October 1887 (no. 12). However, Mallarmé was still discussing the wording of the justification on September 28 (Marchal Corr. 846). Doubtless due to the delay, a double f. at the head, the blank f. and that of the justification, were printed separately on a stronger Japon felt than that of the signatures, the frontispiece being the lightest, printed by Delâtre. Did they come out with the 9th or later? This October [1] issue of La Revue Indépendante also contains in its supplement the announcement of Félicien Rops' bookplate for À la gloire d'Antonia, later published in early January 1888 [cf. 49]. Twice, the mention "avec un ex-libris original de Félicien Rops" in the same issue should have attracted the enthusiast. Félicien ROPS. - Frontispiece: "[...] one of your pure works and my constant admiration, is, in my opinion, inseparable from the humble text it decorates, or, at least, gives it such honor!" (to Rops on September 7, 1894 during the project for a new edition by Deman, cf. infra; Marchal Corr. 2215). Quickly approached on January 25, 1887 by Édouard Dujardin, the great writer and director of the magazine, for his collaboration [see unpublished letter 47/2a], - one month after the detailed program was printed on the cover of the January issue of La Revue Indépendante (published in advance on December 22, 1886), - Rops was added for the first time on the 4th cover of the following issue of [February 1]. 1) La Grande Lyre, with the inscription Ex Libris, heliogravure frontispiece by the photograver [Paul Dujardin], printed on a lighter Japon vergé by A. Delâtre, [sept./oct. 1887], (Rouir simply attaches it to 796 as heliographic documentation). Rare proof before the letter (Rouir, Hélio 2.1 reproducing a flying proof on another Japon impérial from the Pereire/Odry/De Poortere collection of the Musée Rops, Per E0424. 1P). That of the edition always bears the address "Imp. par A. Delâtre" in the point under the right-hand field (Helio 2.2, perfectly legible in the reproduction of the loose proof, doubtless from an ex. on the same Japon vergé léger from the Musée Rops coll. cited, Per E0424. 2P). It has not been erased here, as it is found very slightly on a proof of the crossed-out plate [cf47/1b], which was crossed out like the stones of the edition. Rops had another copperplate made in February 1895 (infra), after recovering the drawing he had given to his "wife" [Léontine Duluc] in 1887 [see 47/3]. 2) Enriched copy of La Lyre, small reduced plate without the word Ex Libris, [February 1895]. Two proofs in two states of the frontispiece from Deman's posthumous 1899 edition. Helios retouched with drypoint. Rops adds, non-descript, a hint of aquatint: "I added to the photogravure an aquatint sky of ideal delicacy and finesse. A little and the sky would no longer be there" (letter to Deman, February [28?] 1895, p. 122, see reference below): 2a). - 2nd state with the 3 sketches in the lower margin [Rouir 822/2, incorrect date 1887. - Exsteens 526, not very knowledgeable about editions. The 1895 Suppl. to the Ramiro cat. stops at no. 678 of this current state]. This is the one Mallarmé would have received from Rops, whom he thanked on March 10, 1895, exclaiming at the "masterpiece among yours, evaporated from its original grandeur in mo