Baudelaire and Dean Kyte:—two names you will often see paired together online.

Dean Kyte’s vlog, The Melbourne Flâneur, is established as the most trustworthy resource for high-quality, quotable information on French literature in the Anglosphere—especially when it comes to Kyte’s specialty, the life and work of Charles Baudelaire.

Every year, thousands of visitors from Australia, America, England and Canada flock to The Melbourne Flâneur, engaged by Dean Kyte’s articles as he freely shares the valuable insights he has gained over sixteen years as one of the most sensitive contemporary interpreters of Baudelaire’s poetry and prose poetry.

In 2025, Dean Kyte releases a new volume of fifty translations crystallizing his intimate immersion in Baudelaire’s noir world and work: Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments: Selections from Toxic Blossoms & Parisian Spleen.

Featuring one-fifth of the total number of poems published in the three editions of Baudelaire’s landmark collection, Les Fleurs du mal (1857), Kyte’s skilful abridgment preserves the dramatic structure of Toxic Blossoms while bringing Baudelaire’s proto-noir themes and symbolic vocabulary into sharp focus.

Deepening readers’ insight into the real-life background of the poems, Kyte also presents one-third of the ‘little prose poems’ published in Baudelaire’s groundbreaking posthumous collection Le Spleen de Paris (1869).

As a counterpoint to his own prose poetry in The Spleen of Melbourne (2021), Dean Kyte has selected pieces from Parisian Spleen that star Baudelaire as an ironic protagonist in the world of Second Empire Paris, bringing all his experience as a flâneurial prose poet in both Melbourne and Paris to translating the experiences of Baudelaire the Parisian dandy into scintillating English.

Bridging poetry and prose, as a substantial bonus, Kyte also includes a brand new translation of Baudelaire’s only known work of fiction, “La Fanfarlo” (1847).

A novelette chronicling the poet’s interracial affair with actress Jeanne Duval, the femme fatale whom Baudelaire called his ‘Black Venus’, this exclusive version of “Fanfarlo” combines Dean Kyte’s skills as an interpreter of French language and culture with his unique style as an Anglo writer of literary noir fiction à la française.

Adding considerable value to a volume that already promises to be a significant new contribution to the body of literature on Baudelaire in English, Dean Kyte prefaces his translations with a substantial critical monograph.

Analyzing Baudelaire through the prism of the works selected, Kyte presents an intimate portrait of the dandy-flâneur such as only another dandy-flâneur could write.

Printed in full colour, with Baudelaire’s evocative works viscerally illustrated by Carlos Schwabe, Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments is a book that will add exclusive value to your bookshelf.

---

Now accepting pre-orders in these formats

---

The Melbourne Edition [ISBN 978-1-7642399-0-5]

In 2025, Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments will become the first consumer-facing book to be released as part of The Melbourne Edition of the Collected Works of Dean Kyte.

A four-volume collection comprising fully revised and expanded second editions of Dean Kyte’s extant books of poetry in translation from French and Italian, as well as his Parisian and Australian Flâneries, The Melbourne Edition will become Dean Kyte’s personal Pléiade—the exclusive fruit of fifteen years’ experience spent honing the Artisanal Desktop Publishing process he offers to clients.

Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments will set the tone for what collectors can expect from future annual releases in The Melbourne Edition.

An elegant pocket-sized volume, The Melbourne Edition of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments will be printed in full colour on the highest possible quality white uncoated paper, bound in a slate-grey linen hardcover, and topped off with a glossy dust jacket featuring the distinctive wrap-around logo of The Melbourne Edition prominently on the spine.

For readers throughout the Anglosphere, this heirloom-quality volume will serve as the perfect introduction to the poetry, prose poetry, and fiction of Charles Baudelaire, as well as to the work of his most sympathetic living translator.

And conscious that The Melbourne Edition of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments will stand the test of time both in terms of form and content as a collector’s item, your volume will be autographed by Dean Kyte, wax-sealed as a guarantee of its artistic authenticity, and lovingly covered in a complementary, non-adhesive sleeve protector to preserve the pristine condition of your personal copy for generations to come.

In addition, your copy will be inscribed with a personalized, handwritten message from Dean Kyte and comes with a matching custom bookmark.

Secure your order at the price below and commence your investment journey in a collection of bespoke, artisanal books, starting with this collaboration between two of the most unique, and yet mutually sympathetic, literary voices in modern times.

Collectors who invest in The Melbourne Edition of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments using the payment button below will join a community of other readers of Dean Kyte’s work anticipating the release of the book in October.

You will receive exclusive monthly updates delivered to your inbox as Dean Kyte keeps you abreast of the final thrilling steps towards publication, and you will be subsequently invoiced for shipping when your personal copy is signed, sealed, and ready to pass from his hands to yours.

Features

• 180 full-colour pages printed on white uncoated 105 gm² paper
• Slate-grey linen hardcover binding and glossy dust jacket
• Complementary clear non-adhesive sleeve protector
• 18 vintage watercolour illustrations by Carlos Schwabe
• Contains Ex libris bookplate for collector to personalize
• Comes with complementary matching custom bookmark
• Autographed, wax-sealed, and personally inscribed by Dean Kyte
• Two extra bonuses that you will discover on delivery…

---

Economy Softcover edition [ISBN 978-1-7642399-1-2]

Based on The Melbourne Edition, Dean Kyte is crafting an economy softcover version of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments designed to get Baudelaire’s precious words into the hands of readers in the Anglosphere at an affordable price.

Preserving most of the high-end features of the dust jacket hardcover volume published in The Melbourne Edition, the economy softcover version of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments retains the full-colour pages of the collector’s edition, albeit more softly printed on a lighter-weight paper, making this pocket-sized volume suitable for study and annotation.

Portable, durable, and flexible, the economy softcover edition comes bound in a high-gloss laminated card cover with a complementary non-adhesive sleeve protector to preserve your personal copy for long-term reading pleasure.

Combine the exclusivity of acquiring this bespoke, artisanal piece of literary history with the affordability of a book that will lend cachet to your bookshelf.

Commit today to securing your personal softcover copy of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments for the low price below and you will join the community of Dean Kyte’s committed readers following his final, behind-the-scenes steps to publication of the book in October.

When your signed, sealed copy is ready to leave the press, Dean Kyte will invoice you for shipping and your book will be on its way to you!

Features

• 180 full-colour pages printed on white uncoated 75 gm² paper
• Flexible, high-gloss laminated full-colour card stock cover
• Complementary clear non-adhesive sleeve protector
• 18 vintage watercolour illustrations by Carlos Schwabe
• Contains Ex libris bookplate for collector to personalize
• Comes with complementary matching custom bookmark
• Autographed, wax-sealed, and personally inscribed by Dean Kyte
• An extra bonus that you will discover on delivery…

---

PDF eBook edition [ISBN 978-1-7642399-2-9]

Use the payment button below to pre-order the eBook of Maledictions, Blasphemies, Laments, based on the economy softcover edition, and Dean Kyte will send a trip-hop track based on one of his translations right to your inbox. In addition, you will go on the mailing list to receive regular behind-the-scenes updates on Dean’s progress as he puts the final finishing touches to the book in the leadup to publication in October.

---