[Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, French poet, author and fabulist.] Autograph Text of his poem ‘Le charlatan | fable’.

A nice original item, unsigned but certainly in Florian’s distinctive hand. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with neat white-paper mount adhering to one edge on the blank reverse. Foliated 93. Sixteen-line poem, beginning ‘Sur le pont-neuf, entouré de badauds, / un charlatan criait a pleine tete, / venez, messieurs, accourez faire emplette / du grand remede a tous les maux.’ In the last line the remedy is revealed as ‘un peu de poudre d’or’. Apart from a few variations in spelling and accidentals, the only difference from the familiar published version is the absence from this autograph of the tenth line (‘Aux fous le prix de la sagesse’). From the celebrated collection of Baron Houghton (in Lot acquired at Chiswick Auctions). See Image.