Mirbeau octave

12231 — Paris : Bibliothèque-Charpentier 1913. First edition limited to 175 numbered copies; the present copy is one of 150 printed on papier de Hollande copy no. 121. Tall octavo original wrappers 422 pp a fine uncut copy. Text in French. The final novel by the French writer Octave Mirbeau Dingo was completed by his colleague Léon Werth. The story is a disturbing allegory of the violent unpredictability and murderous impulses that lurk deep within the human psyche the protagonist being a wild dingo whose existence within contemporary French society is described through the first-person narrative of his owner. The chief redeeming quality of the animal is however one that is often lacking in common human behaviour: the dingo's spontaneous interractions with its immmediate environment are instinctive and truthful neither denying the creature's real desires nor masking its own identity. Mirbeau paints the dingo as a paradox of outward savagery and profound harmony a depiction which perhaps comes close to inverting our general perception of so-called civilised humanity. Two copies of the first edition are recorded in Australian collections National Library of Australia; State Library of New South Wales. The SLNSW copy is also a numbered copy on papier de Hollande; however the NLA catalogue entry does not specify a paper type or number. unknown