LALOY, Louis. Le Livre de la fumée.

LALOY, Louis. Le Livre de la fumée.The Only Good Modern Book on Opium (Cocteau) LALOY, Louis. Le Livre de la fume. Paris: Dorbon Ain. [1913.] 4to. Original printed wrappers with gold borders, upper cover illustrated in blue, pink, orange, and purple; pp. 181, [4], [1 (blank)], fore edge uncut; with numerous in text woodcut initials, head and tailpieces, and in text illustrations by Dalny in black, navy, and ochre; extremities lightly rubbed with tiny nicks, a few small stains to the

‘The Only Good Modern Book on Opium’ (Cocteau)

LALOY, Louis. Le Livre de la fumée. Paris: Dorbon-Ainé. [1913.]

4to. Original printed wrappers with gold borders, upper cover illustrated in blue, pink, orange, and purple; pp. 181, [4], [1 (blank)], fore-edge uncut; with numerous in-text woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, and in-text illustrations by Dalny in black, navy, and ochre; extremities lightly rubbed with tiny nicks, a few small stains to the rear wrapper, light creasing to spine with a short tear at foot; pages slightly toned, first three quires coming loose, otherwise a very good, clean copy.

Scarce first edition of this influential work on opium by Debussy’s friend and first biographer, no. 166 of a total edition of 220 and one of 100 copies printed in black and with coloured illustrations.

The French musicologist, writer, and sinologist Louis Laloy (1874–1944) taught history of music at the Sorbonne and aesthetics at the Institut des hautes études chinoises before serving as Secretary General of the Paris Opéra between 1913 and 1940. A close friend of Claude Debussy – who dedicated to him ‘Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut’ (Images 2e série, 1907) – Laloy was also the author of the composer’s first biography.

In 1931, he travelled to China on a diplomatic mission for the French Ministry of Culture. Le Livre de la fumée, based on Laloy’s own experience with opium, is divided into three parts. In the first, ‘Le Livre exterieur’, he provides a comprehensive overview of the etymology, chemical composition, of opium, with much historical detail on the history of its export, usage, and reception in China over several dynasties.

The second portion, ‘Le Livre interieur’, is a firsthand guide to smoking opium, including ideal settings and positions, in which Laloy argues that opium is a safer substance than alcohol as it does not cause anger or violence; finally, there is ‘Le livre secret’, a philosophical mediation describing the practice of smoking opium as a path to higher wisdom.

The work was published only three years before the French government enforced strict regulations on the prescription and usage of opium; during the First World War, the drug was condemned as ‘poison boche’ (’German poison’) designed to weaken the French nation; after the war, Le Livre de la fumée contributed significantly to the postwar fascination with opium amongst artists and literary figures. Laloy maintained his own fumerie at his home in Bellevue, and played a decisive role in introducing Jean Cocteau to opium in 1924, during Cocteau’s period of profound depression following the death of his lover, Raymond Radiguet. ‘Since their first attempt at smoking opium disappointed Cocteau, who thought it too bland, Laloy prepared other pipes for him, more full-bodied, and still others, which set him reeling’ (Arnaud, p. 351); in Opium, Cocteau would later praise Le Livre de la fumée as ‘the only good modern book on opium’ (trans.). The woodcut illustrations, here executed in three colours, are the work of Dalny, about whom little is known (this is his only work listed in Mahé), and the work is introduced by a prefatory letter addressed to Laloy by the writer and naval officer Claude Farrère (i.e. Frédéric Charles Pierre Édouard Bargone, 1876–1957), winner of the 1905 Prix Goncourt; he had served in East Asia on the battleship Vauban, and was involved in the 1899 French occupation of Guangzhouwan.

We find a single copy in the UK, at the British Library. OCLC adds five copies in the US (California State, Harvard, Mills College, UT Austin, Yale).

See Arnaud, Jean Cocteau: a Life (2016), pp. 351–2.; Mahé, p. 59.

SKU: 2123678