First edition, one of the most influential literary works of the Modernismo of Latin America of the 19th century by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario, widely regarded as the founder of the modernist literary movement and a profound influence in Spanish literature and journalism; Azul “was soon recognized in Europe and Latin America as the herald of a new era in Spanish American literature” (Encyclopedia Britannica). It is a collection of short stories, descriptive sketches and verse.
Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento (1867-1916) is known as Ruben Dario, was a Nicaraguan-born poet and writer, though much of his career was spent in different countries: “influential Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat. As a leader of the Spanish American literary movement known as Modernismo, which flourished at the end of the 19th century, he revivified and modernized poetry in Spanish on both sides of the Atlantic through his experiments with rhythm, metre, and imagery.” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The Modernismo was a Spanish literary movement “that emerged in the late 1880s and is perhaps most often associated with the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario, who was a central figure. A turning point in the movement was the publication of Azul (1888; “Blue”), Darío’s book of poems and short stories…”
This is a nice copy, the wrappers preserved and bound in, most times, the book is found without the wrappers.
The prologue is by Dario´s Chilean friend Eduardo de la Barra, in it, we find Victor Hugo´s “L’art c’est l’azur” phrase, which in a later edition, Dario explains motivated the title of the book, though later denied, blue or azul is “el color del ensueño, el color del arte, un color helénico y homérico, color oceánico y firmamental”.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Rubén Darío". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ruben-Dario. Accessed 18 January 2022.
