RACHILDE. La Tour d'amour. Paris : Société du Mercure de France, [1899]. - In-12, 187 x 117 : (3 ff. first blank), 245 pp. printed cover. Brown morocco, smooth spine decorated with four bold cold fillets and a bold gilt fillet in the center, havana morocco author's and title-piece, bold gilt fillet in lean cold fillet framing the inside, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (period binding). First edition of one of the most famous novels by Rachilde (1860-1953) and one of the greatest literary texts of the late 19th century. " A fin-de-siècle novelist associated with the literary life of her time, Rachilde gives a moving treatment to the theme of loneliness through the sulphurous story of two lighthouse keepers: old Mathurin Barnabas and young Jean Maleux, who comes to help him. Their lighthouse is the Ar-men, the highest of the Breton lighthouses. The surrounding sea, to the rhythm of which the building sways, is never forgotten. Rachilde recounts how Jean Maleux takes possession of this lighthouse, which exudes a dissolving demon of solitude. In this confined, morbid atmosphere, he discovers the pitiful secret of Barnabas. The old lighthouse keeper worships women who drown in storms, and watches for them to love them. A sort of mute understanding is established between the two men until Barnabas's death" (argument by La République des lettres). One of 12 numbered copies on Hollande paper (no. 7). A fine copy in full contemporary or slightly later binding. Enriched with the prospectus for the play based on the novel, performed at the Essaïon theater in Paris from November 7 to December 15, 1984. Slightly faded back.