Chansons pour elle (Songs for Women) is the tenth poetic collection in verse by Paul Verlaine, published in 1891 by his regular publisher Léon Vanier. Composed of twenty-five medium-length poems, the collection was inspired by the poet’s liaisons with Philomène Boudin, also known as ‘Esther’, and with Eugenie Krantz, or ‘Mouton’.

With an erotic theme in the same vein as Parallalement (1889), but devoted to specific women, the language and symbolism of Chansons pour elle marked Verlaine’s final abandonment of all hope of salvation through religious faith. Liturgies intimes (Intimate Liturgies), published the following year, illustrate through their artificiality the failure of the poet’s spiritual enterprise in favour of the earthbound.

We know little of Quint’s private life, but from the narrative nature of his stylish illustrations to Verlaine we can guess that the challenges of intimate relating were not outside his experience. They are his only erotic work, and some of his only colour illustrations, and their immediacy and vivacity leave us wishing he had had more similar commissions.

The Quint-illustrated Verlaine was published by Librairie Albert Messein in a limited numbered edition of 500 copies.