BARBEY D'AUREVILLY (Jules). Les Diaboliques. Paris, E. Dentu, 1874. In-12, paperback, untrimmed, green cloth folder and slipcase (Boichot). First edition. Five of the six short stories published in this famous collection are completely unpublished; only the fourth, Le Dessous de cartes d'une partie de whist, was first published as a serial, then reprinted in the second edition of L'Ensorcelée. There were 2,200 copies of this edition, of which 480 were destroyed by the author and publisher because of prosecution by the Seine public prosecutor's office. An as-published copy, as new, most desirable. It is enriched with a fine proof of the portrait of Barbey d'Aurevilly by Adolphe Rajon. The cover, dated 1875 as always, is as fresh as ever.