BERTRAND (Aloysius). Gaspard de la Nuit. Fantasies in the manner of Rembrandt and Callot. Angers, V. Pavie ; Paris, Labitte, 1842. Large in-8, long-grained black half-maroquin with gilt-stamped corners, richly decorated spine, untrimmed (G. Mercier, 1924). Extremely rare first edition. This famous collection of prose poems - the first of its kind - to which Louis Bertrand (1807-1841), known as Aloysius Bertrand, devoted his entire life, was published posthumously by his friend David d'Angers with an introductory note by Sainte-Beuve. One of the most sought-after works of Romantic literature. As we know, Gaspard de la Nuit was the main source of inspiration for Baudelaire's Spleen de Paris. Mallarmé confessed to "a deep cult for the exquisite work of Louis Bertrand", while André Breton and the Surrealists hailed him as a precursor. A superb copy with full margins, luxuriously bound by Georges Mercier (1883-1939), son and collaborator of Émile Mercier, whom he succeeded in 1910.