PARIS.- Sotheby’s announce the sale in Paris on December 15 of an exceptional 180-lot collection of books, manuscripts, photographs and prints. The ensemble majors on three iconic poets – Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé – and also features a number of their literary contemporaries, including Tristan Corbière, Alfred Jarry, Villiers de L’Isle-Adam and Oscar Wilde. This library, assembled over a forty-year period, comprises works chosen with the utmost care, from books with original bindings and handwritten dedications to manuscripts, vintage photographs and drawings. This extremely coherent ensemble tellingly portrays an era. The catalogue reads like a parallel history of late 19th century French literature; the links between writers are highlighted by an interplay of inscriptions, correspondence and provenance, including books once owned by Huÿsmans, Jules