*Maurice Denis. Apparition. Poem by Stéphane Mallarmé / music by André Rossignol, [December] 1894; gr. in-8 booklet high in ff. posterior flap folder. Score for voice and piano printed at 200 (sic) copies on Japon, a deluxe copy [see below the various papers that would contradict a single edition of 200], numbered 17 and signed by Rossignol in ink and countersigned by M. Denis in pencil. Cover lithographed in 3 colors by Maurice Denis on the 1st plate, monogr. MAVD 94 inf.dr. There are a few loose proofs of the cover (Nectoux cat. no. 14 p. 209, reprod. p. 159). Melody dedicated to her friend Berthe Manet [Morisot], who described "the young Rossignol, my only faithful one in the solitude of this summer" (to Mallarmé in 1892, Austin V p. 127). André Rossignol, "a young music teacher, guitar and mandolin player" (Nectoux p. 160), raved on December 17, 1891: "I am extremely touched by your great kindness to me. I cannot find words to express my deep gratitude and immense admiration. Your Apparition has charmed me deeply, and I hope to make beautiful music; with such verses it would be truly extraordinary if I did not make a beautiful composition" (Austin IV p. 349). This famous poem from the first period of the 1860s was also set to music by Edmond Bailly (the publisher of Librairie de L'Art indépendant), - both of whom "adapted delicious notes to it", according to Mallarmé (in the Deman 1899 edition) and by the young Debussy as early as 1884 (ms remains posthumous, reprod. by Nectoux p. 164). Reference: Rare small advertisement [cf. no. 88] for "Publications dernières" in L'Épreuve Album d'Art, on 4th p. of the double f. impr. [published between December 6 and 13, 1894]: "APPARITION. - Mélodie d'André Rossignol, sur le poëme de Stéphane Mallarmé, avec un frontispice en couleurs de notre collaborateur Maurice Denis: Exemplaires sur Japon, Hollande et Vélin blanc à 20, 10 et 5 francs". Provenance: Thanks to a note by Austin (supra), we can locate our platelet no. 17 in the fine Mallarmé collection of Pierre Guerquin, Beraldi's son-in-law. Drouot, G. Blaizot, 26/11/959 n° 416: "become very rare [...] et [qui] porte exceptionnellement les [deux] signatures"). [The ex. described by Nectoux (supra) passed into the collection of the Musée Mallarmé in Vulaines-sur-Seine in 2010 (reprod. in Anne Borrel, Femmes de Mallarmé 2011, no. 110 p. 113)]. B. Marchal does not list it in the Pléiade. Missing from the Édouard-Henri Fischer collection. Extremely rare. Also included: Claude DEBUSSY. - Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé for song and piano. Paris, Durand, 1913; in-4 in 12 ff. glossy paper, lyre cover. Printed by Mounot (cover and title) and Mounot, Nicolas p. 12 (reprint). - Original 2-tone cover on matt vellum in filleted frame (spine unstuck and edges slightly tired); stamps. Contains: - Soupir - Placet futile - Éventail [Autre Éventail de Mademoiselle Mallarmé]. Dedicated to the memory of the poet and his daughter Mme E. Bonniot. Debussy "thought," writes J.-M. Nectoux, "of publishing Apparition [see above], reworking the earlier pages, but abandoned this project in favor of setting to music three texts chosen from the posthumous volume of Poésies, which had just been published [Éditions de la NRF, January 24] [...]; these three melodies are among the most personal and enigmatic by their author. This collection can also be seen as a somewhat melancholy farewell to the symbolist aesthetic that had so durably marked the musician's youth" (Mallarmé, ibid., p.173). Except for the original cover, in fine condition.