June 1, 1857 saw the publication of the most important volume of French poetry up till then: Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal…
Baudelaire addresses the reader of the volume with this famous bit of mockery:
- It’s Ennui! — his eye brimming with spontaneous tear
- He dreams of the gallows in the haze of his hookah.
- You know him, reader, this delicate monster,
- Hypocritical reader, my likeness, my brother!
Image: Baudelaire’s own annotated 1st ed. copy of Les Fleurs…


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