Published in L'Artiste in March 1859, the essay appears here in volume form for the first time , printed in November of the same year with some corrections. Elegantly crafted, the book was published by Poulet-Malassis, with whom the poet would later sign a contract in January 1860 to publish several titles, including Les Paradis Artificiales and the second edition of Les Fleurs du Mal, which appeared in 1860 and 1861. Baudelaire held Gautier in high esteem, so much so that two years earlier he had dedicated Les Fleurs du Mal to him, calling him a "very dear and very venerable master and friend." The essay is preceded by a letter from Hugo to Baudelaire written in October 1859, in which Hugo praises Baudelaire's poetry as a vehicle for progress and extols his study of Gautier, "one of these pages that provoke thought quite powerfully."

Bibl.: Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de Livres I (Paris 1894), col. 345; Carteret, Le Trésor I (Paris 1924), pp. 126; Talvart & Place, Bibliographie des auteurs modernis de langue française I (Paris 1928), p. 290, n. 17; Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes (Paris 1975), p. 1666