Vintage 33 rpm Vinyl The Most Beautiful Poems French language retro Maria Casarès

AFW - Antique France Worldwide

Description

This 33 RPM vinyl record features an album titled “Les Plus Beaux Poèmes de la langue française” (The Most Beautiful Poems of the French Language), with a jacket depicting a stylized red illustration of a seated figure, likely a poet, holding a book. To the right, a color photograph shows a woman by candlelight, creating an intimate and literary atmosphere. The design combines sobriety and elegance, with embossed black typographic characters for the main title against an off-white background.

The jacket explicitly states: n°1 – de Villon à Alfred de Vigny, suggesting a selection of poems ranging from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The performers, Maria Casarès and Gérard Philipe, are mentioned at the bottom right, highlighting the theatrical and literary dimension of the recording. The album received the Prix des Arts et Lettres awarded by the Académie du Disque Français, inscribed in red on the jacket.

The “Productions Beaum” logo is visible in the bottom left corner, while the reference “FLD 166 M” from the Festival label appears at the bottom right. The cover has a matte finish, with some signs of wear and a slight age-related patina, typical of old vinyl sleeves.

The jacket is distinguished by a combination of graphic techniques: an engraving-style illustration and a photograph, enhanced by careful layout. The overall aesthetic evokes the 1950s-60s, a probable production period, although this cannot be confirmed with certainty without further clues.

This is a 33 RPM vinyl record, a standard LP format, intended for playback on a suitable turntable. No details about the back of the jacket or the condition of the record itself are visible in the provided photo.

Condition

Used item, sold as is. The sleeve shows slight signs of wear and handling marks visible on the front, without major alteration to the graphics.

Did you know? The Festival label, created in 1954, significantly contributed to the dissemination of French literary and musical heritage on vinyl records. Poetry readings by famous actors, such as Maria Casarès and Gérard Philipe, helped democratize access to classical poetry for the general public as early as the 1950s.

AFW Reassurance

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Keywords: poetry vinyl record, French retro LP, spoken word album France, Maria Casarès Gérard Philipe, vintage sleeve, vinyl poem reading, Festival FLD 166 M, antique poetry record, record French poems, spoken word vinyl, arts et lettres vinyl, 33 RPM literature