Stéphane MALLARMÉ. Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. Conference. Paris, Librairie de L'Art Indépendant, [circa October 10] 1890; br. in-8 booklet, modern green cloth slipcase, chagr. titled in gold on spine. First edition limited to 50 numbered copies on Japon and Hollande, plus a few author's vellum. Corrected" offprint [see idem 62] from La Revue d'aujourd'hui of May 15, 1890, "in its definitive toilet" writes O. Maus (Austin IV p. 152). "Exemplaire d'auteur" on vellum, simply printed on the verso of the f.-t. that replaces the justif., with the fine black ink stamp of the monogr. SM stamped below. These copies on vellum were first described in our catalogue (La Damoiselle élue, 29/11/1993 no. 172), where we analyzed the Octave Maus copy sold to Édouard-Henri Fischer. For this collection, Galantaris put forward a double formulation, in 2000 (no. 269): "Quelques exemplaires d'auteur, tirés sur papier vélin au monogramme de Mallarmé (non signalés par les bibliographes)", and in 2014 (no. 346): "sur papier vélin porteurs, en filigrane [sic], du monogramme de Mallarmé". The lightly glazed vellum has no watermark, except for the SM stamp on the f.-t.. Neither the ex. by Octave Maus, rel. by [Paul Claessens fils], nor that by Alidor Delzant rel. by Pierson (P. Saunier, La Salade, 2013 n° 73, Bergé, 2nd sale, 2016, n° 472), nor the two paperbacks: those by Rodenbach and Hoffsschmidt have no watermark. The 4th cover bears the price of 5francs as for the Hollande (see following n°). Mallarmé lectured six times in Belgium (see complete ephemeris in our cat. L'Art et l'idée, 26/10/1992 pp. 104-107) and once privately in Paris at Berthe Morisot. The one in Liège at L'Émulation took place on February 14. That evening, he was invited to dine at the home of Napoléon d'Hoffschmidt, a Liege councillor (who was the dedicatee of Edmond Picard's Mon Oncle le Jurisconsulte in 1884): "The most beautiful dinner I've ever had" (Marchal Corr. 1274). In gratitude, he dedicated this quatrain in ink on an "Exemplaire d'auteur": To "Monsieur [Hoffschmidt name scratched out] Orator, as in my early days You set a charming trap! I dreamed, I spoke, I drank Before catechizing Liège. Stéphane Mallarmé". The version of the quatrain sent to L'Émulation: "A des amis de Liège, à la suite d'une Conférence", published in Vers de circonstance in 1920 (n° L, p. 131), was the only one known with this lesson: "Avant que d'endoctriner Liège" (Before indoctrinating Liège), before Marchal gave the crossed-out one from the Album de Méry Laurent: "Je parlai, je rêvai, je lus je bus/ Avant de catéchiser Liège" (OC. I, p. 317 and 1292 n°11). With a L.A.S. to the same (1 p. on double ff. in-12 imitation-Japan) [Marchal (Corr. 2019, no. 1266)]. Mallarmé writes to Hoffschmidt at Edmond Picard, his host at 47 (not 87) av. de la Toison d'or, on Tuesday [February 11]: "Merci, vous me voyez confus, j'accepte et j'écris par le même courrier à Monsieur de Laveleye dont je reçois un mot, que vous aviez ma parole"... The invitation from Baron de Laveleye, professor at the University of Liège, arrived that same day, but Napoleon had already written to Mallarmé on the 10th that he had told him his "priority of intention and he is willing to give up, in my favor, his rights of hospitality" (Austin IV p. 49 for the two Liège invitations). Cover damaged, restored, lined with Japon pelure, upper corners of 1st ff. wet, otherwise precious ex. nicely adorned with a quatrain.