*Count de VILLIERS DE L'ISLE-ADAM. Axël. Paris, Quantin, 1890 [deposited December 1889, offered for sale January 17]; in-8 plum half-maroq. with corners, ribbed spine, gilt t., covers and spine cons. (Sim. Kra Rel, square dry stamp). Posthumous first edition. Autogr. letter signed in ink by J.K. Huysmans, countersigned by Mallarmé on the bl.f.: "A Henry Girard / Pour Villiers / J.K.Huÿsmans /et Stéphane Mallarmé". A deplorable actor, always on tour, Henry Girard, on his return, became one of the mainstays of Sunday dinners at his great friend Huysmans' with Landry, Villiers... Huysmans dedicated Le Quartier Saint-Séverin to him in the expanded edition of La Bièvre published by Stock in 1898, and presented him with his famous portrait by Forain (Musée de Versailles). Gustave de Malherbe and Huysmans did considerable work on the text. The latter discovered in Nogent: "a stere of proofs, papers, notes relating to Axël [...] a labyrinth of corrections on placards [3rd part]", as he wrote to Mallarmé, the other executor, who supervised the whole thing in a hurry, as Quantin was impatient (Austin III p. 358). In the Appendix, they published a fragment that Huysmans had found, preceded by a note (p.297-98). He sent the draft to Mallarmé for amendment. The text edited in extenso by Austin (ibid. p. 365) may be consulted. Cover restored at one corner and slightly browned, as is the spine of the binding by Simon Kra, much better known as a publisher. Provenance: [Bernard Loliée], Binoche et Giquello, Sotheby's, Courvoisier exp. 9/10/2018 no. 301 (bookplate RBL).