Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra

Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra [Thus Spoke Zarathustra], Mercure de France, Paris 1898, 13,5x22,5cm, bound.
Rare first edition of the French translation, no deluxe issue (grands papiers) printed.
Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands ruled in black, marbled paper boards, mould-made pastedowns and endpapers.
Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Signed and inscribed by translator Henri Albert to Gabriel Monod.
The recipient of this inscription Gabriel Monod played an important role in introducing Nietzsche's philosophy in France and was personally acquainted with the philosopher. Monod began writing articles about him in the 1874 Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature, at a time when only a few German-speaking French readers were aware of his writings. Following these articles, Nietzsche contacted Monod in the hopes of getting him to handle the publication of his works in France, to no avail.
Henri Albert's very first French translation of this 'Book for All and None' - first published fifteen years earlier - helped to make the German philosopher better known in France. Albert's translations were praised for their literary quality by writers André Gide and Paul Valéry, and earned a prize from the Académie française.
A precious inscription from one Nietzschean to another.