Histoire de doña Maria d’Avalos et de don Fabricio, duc d’Andria (The Story of Countess Maria d'Avalos and Count Fabricio, Duke of Andria) is one of the tales told by the prolific French writer Anatole France in his 1895 collection Le puits de Sainte-Claire (The Well of Saint-Claire). As the most erotic of the stories, involving an illicit affair between two high-ranking families, it was a prime candidate for a limited edition illustrated standalone offering, and the Paris publisher Librairie des Bibliophiles obliged with this tastefully designed coloured edition illustrated and lettered by Lebègue.

The short stories that make up Le puits de Sainte-Claire take place in Italy, an Italy dreamed of by Anatole France, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, inspired by the tales of Boccaccio and the Lives of Vasari. For the most part they are anecdotal, written in a refined and sometimes archaic language, evoking images of ancient tombs and Florentine frescoes.

The printing of just 200 copies quickly sold out, and a further 200 copies in another limited numbered edition was published by Charles Grolleau in 1904.