London: Jonathan Cape, 1969. First Wraps. 12mo. Wrappers. Near Fine / Near Fine. 147pp. Translated from the French by Richard Howard. Issued simultaneously with hardcover edition. Faint shelfwear to the dustjacket with light browning to the spine panel. A remarkable critical study of Baudelaire in which Butor discusses the 3 stages in the life of the poet and relates them to his three major factors in his inspiration: Les Lesbiennes and his mistress Jeanne Duval; Les Limbes and the revolutionaries of 1848; and finally, Les Fleures du Mail and Edgar Allen Poe. Gradually, Butor's 'spiralling' technique reveals the links between poetry and sexuality, poetry and revolution, and poetry and suicide in the work of Baudelaire.