This notebook, except for the insertion of a few rejected pieces instead of as tailpieces on the margins:

Salute
Fan (Mrs. Mallarmé’s)
Leaf of an Album
Remembering Belgian Friends
Street Songs I and II
Note to Whistler
Little Airs I and II
and the Sonnets
The Tomb of Baudelaire
“In the oppressive cloud hid”
follows the order, but not the grouping, presented in the facsimile edition made from the manuscript of the author in 1887.

Except for some corrections, introduced at the time of the Academic reprinting, the text remains that of the beautiful subscribed publication which later soared to a higher and higher price, which it was able to attain. Its rarity was decorated with flowers, in the original format, again, the masterpiece of Rops.

No previous versions are given here as variants.

Many of these poems, or studies aiming at better ones, as one tries out the nib of one’s pen before keeping them as part of one’s work, were abstracted from their box by the friendly impatience of Reviews looking for their first appearance. The first appearance of projects, as points of reference, is noted because the poems were too rare or too numerous. The author himself is of two minds about this, so he preserves them for the reason that the young man he was indeed wanted to take each one into account and to allow a public to form about him.

Salute: this sonnet, was composed when I raised a glass, recently, as I had the honor of presiding at a banquet of the review La Plume.

Apparition tempted the musicians, and Monsieurs Bailly and André Rossignol have set it to delicious notes.

The Clown Punished appeared for the first time, although it was already old, in the grand edition of the Revue Indépendante.

The Windows, The Flowers, Revival, Anxiety (first called The One Who Is Quiet), “Tired of the bitter rest", The Bell Ringer, Summer Sadness, The Blue, Sea Breeze, Sigh, Alms (entitled The Beggar) make up the series which, in this work, is named for their appearance in the first issue of Parnasse contemporain.

Hérodiade, here a fragment, which used to have only a dialogue part, will contain besides the Canticle of St. John and its conclusion in a last monologue, a Prelude and Finale which will ultimately be published, and which will finish the poem.

The Afternoon of a Faun appeared in a special edition illustrated by Manet. It was one of the first expensive booklets, perfect, like a bag with candies. It was a little bit oriental with its "Japan felt, title in gold, tied up with pink cords of China and black" and was then issued as a poster; then as an engraving, now out of print.

Toast in Memory comes from the joint collection Théophile Gautier's Tomb: Master and Shade to whom the invocation is addressed; his name appears in rhyme right before the end.

Prose for des Esseintes. He might have inserted it, perhaps, along with what we read in À rebours by our own J. K. Huysmans.

Leaf of an Album ( "All of a sudden and as if for fun") is indiscreetly copied out from the album of the daughter of the Provençal poet Roumanille, my old companion. I had admired her, this child, and she wanted to remember to ask me for some verses, this young lady.

Remembering Belgian Friends. I felt pleasure in sending this sonnet to the visitors' book of the Cercle Excelsior, where I had gone to a conference and met new friends.

Street Songs I and II, comment, with diverse quatrains, on the collection of the Types of Paris, seen in the illustrations of the master painter Raffaelli, who inspired them and accepted them.

Note to Whistler, appeared in French, as an illustration in the English newspaper The Whirlwind, to which Whistler made princely donations.

Little Airs. Number one inaugurated, in November, 1894, the magnificent publication L’Épreuve. Number two appeared first in Monsieur Daudet's album.

The Tomb of Edgar Poe. This poem was involved in the ceremony for the erection of a monument to Poe in Baltimore. It was recited to the monument, a block of basalt which America laid over the light shade of the poet, for the country’s safety, in hopes that the shade would never rise up again.

The Tomb of Baudelaire. This was a part of the book having this title, published by subscription with the aim of erecting some statue, or bust, or issuing some commemorative medallion.

Homage, between some, of a French poet, inspired by the admirable Revue Wagnerienne, dead before the definitive triumph of the Genius.

So much accuracy testifies, pointlessly maybe, to some respect to future scholars.