Paul Vialar : a vision of World War I

Paul Vialar, engaged during the war of 1914-1918, recounts his experience in Le Coeur et la Boue (Heart and mud). This edition of 1921 illustrated by Louis-Robert Antral, whose style evokes the one of Hermann-Paul, underlines perfectly the darkness of this trench warfare.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• ANTRAL (L.R.) - VIALAR (Paul). Le Cœur et la boue. Preface by Marcel Wiriath, wood engravings by Louis-Robert Antral. Paris, La Cigogne, 1921, in-8. Limited to 500 copies. One of the 12 copies on Imperial Japan paper.

Dulac's gems

"Edmond Dulac (1882-1953), colorist influenced by pre-Raphaelism, Japanese prints and Oriental miniatures, is part of a generation that contribute to the revival of illustrated books in the early twentieth century. Born in Toulouse, Dulac moved in England in 1905. Like his elder of fifteen years, Arthur Rackham, he started in the high-growth niche of luxurious illustrated books. Dulac drew from the same fairy tells. His delicate trait and his colors are perfectly rendered through the process of "simili" engraving. Up to the war, Dulac illustrated, each year, a book for the luxurious collection of the French editor Henri Piazza : illustrations reproduced on laminated paper, in a frieze framing. "

(source : http://expositions.bnf.fr - The exhibition "Il était une fois… les contes de fées" presented at Paris Galerie Mansart from 20 march to 17 june 2001).

Currently, the Librairie Loliée offers :

• Dulac (Edmond) - Khayyam (Omar). Rubaiyat. Paris, Piazza, (s.d.), in-4. 20 plate compositions in colors by Dulac.
• Dulac (Edmond) . La Princesse Badourah. Conte des Mille et Une Nuits. Paris, Piazza, 1914, in-4. 10 plate compositions in colors by Dulac. One of the 500 copies on Japan paper, signed by the artist.
  

Parler seul (Speaking alone) : A dialog between Tzara and Miro

Periodically felt out with André Breton about the role of art and literature in society, Tristan Tzara preaches, since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, a poetry increasingly militant. He takes position, with Aragon, against fascism and, in 1937, he joins the Committee for the Defence of the Spanish culture. Under the Occupation, Tzara helps the activities of Resistance and, in 1947, he joined the Communist Party.

Established post-war in south of France, Tzara contributes to the revival of Occitan studies. Parler seul, published in 1950, reflects this period and the willingness of the author to make a "poetry in action." Rather than define a preliminary iconographic corpus, Tzara prefers to give carte blanche to the artist. The book, illustrated with 72 black & white and coloured lithographs by Joan Miro, reflects this freedom of dialogue between poetic text and icon. (sources : http://fr.encarta.msn.com - http://theses.enc.sorbonne.fr/document37.html)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• MIRO (Joan) - Tzara (Tristan). Parler seul. Paris, Maeght, 1948, in leaves, illustrated covers, editor wrappers. First edition illustrated with 72 black and coloured lithographs by Joan Miro. Limited edition to 253 copies signed by both Miro and Tzara.

Dedicaces by Verlaine

Dédicaces is perhaps the most heterogeneous collection of poems by Paul Verlaine. It contains 4 ballads and 37 pieces dedicated to his friends. There is included in the first edition of 1890 (followed in 1894 an expanded edition) a portrait of Verlaine at the hospital. It is one of the many portraits done by F.-A. Cazals, cartoonist and close friend, during the convalescence of Verlaine to Broussais, his "sanitary prison", in which the poet, depressive, made several stays.

Despite a growing celebrity, Verlaine does not get over the remarriage of Mathilde, his wife, and is affected with not seeing his son. Between wanderings, absinthes and hospitalizations, he holds on with the help of his friends. Dédicaces is released through the intermediary of Léon Deschamps who, after the parting of Verlaine with his publisher Vanier, brings out the book at the editions of La Plume-Bibliothèque Artistique et Littéraire.


Put back in this context, Dédicaces, bouquet of sonnets offered by Verlaine to his friends, has a very moving dimension.
(source : album Verlaine - bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Gallimard - 1981)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Verlaine (Paul). Dédicaces. Drawing by A.F. Cazals, engraved by Maurice Baud. Paris, Bibliothèque Artistique et Littéraire, 1890, in-16, bound. First edition. On of the 50 copies on Holland paper signed by the author.

Motherhood by M. Arland, illustrated by M. Chagall

"One of the first days of this year, we discovered in a village in East, Chenevière, the body of a newborn baby, of whom we could not knew if death, which took place two years ago, had been naturally. A young woman was immediately charged (...) Since I learned of the fault she was taxed with, her image did not leave me. I try to tell her story. "
This mystery opens Motherhood, a little-known text by Marcel Arland but estimated by book lovers in its edition of 1926. The volume includes 5 original engravings by Marc Chagall, entitled "Shame", "Birth", "Brawl", "Couple in bed", "Visit by the window." There are quite representative of the delicate grace of the painter, especially in the drawing of this couple of lovers seized under the duvet.


Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• Chagall- Arland (Marcel). Maternité. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1926, in-8 . Edition illustrated with five original engravings by Marc Chagall. Copy on Lafuma paper.

Bissière and the arrival of abstract art

By the age of 18, Roger Bissière leaves his notarial studies to join, in Alger, the orientalist painter Rochegrosse. After this first experience of a year, he studies art in Paris and Bordeaux. Discharged against his will from the army in 1914, Bissière sees his career start after war : he takes part in various exhibitions, writes articles in the magazine L'Esprit Nouveau created by Le Corbusier and Ozenfant. He does his first exhibition in 1921. Appointed professor at the famous Academy of Ranson, Bissière opens in 1934 an atelier devoted to fresco and attended by some of the future members of the new school of Paris (as Alexandre Garbell, Jean Le Moal and Alfred Manessier). Very active, Bissière withdraws however in 1939 in the family's house in Lot. He ceases painting. After 1945, he makes artistic hangings made of pieces of fabric, old clothes and socks. In 1950, operated for a glaucoma, Bissière is afraid of losing the sight. He produces, during his convalescence at the island of Ré, small formats with egg paint. In 1951, the Jeanne Bucher gallery exhibits untitled paintings which tend toward an abstract landscaping.

In 1954, Bissière rediscovers oil paint and realises, always for the gallery Jeanne Bucher, the model of The Canticle to Brother Sun by Francis of Assisi. Engraved on wood by Fiorini, then printed in color, the book is release at 48 copies, all signed by Bissière and Fiorini.

In 2001, the Ides and Calendes Editions, publish a catalog of the works of Roger Bissière and, thus, render tribute to one of the the french instigator of abstract art.
(sources : wikipedia.fr, bissiere.net).

Currently, the librairie Loliée can show you:

• Bissière - Francis of Assisi. Cantique à notre frère soleil. Paris, Editions Jeanne Bucher, 1954, in-4, in leaves, cover in parchment paper, folder. 11 original wood engravings in colors by Bissière. 48 copies on Auvergne paper, signed byt the artist and the engraver.

Queneau's polyphony

Erudite with an encyclopaedic mind, Raymond Queneau was interested as well in philosophy, mathematics, as languages and anthropology. His mixed experimentation among Surrealists which reach on an exclusion, did not pleased him. Queneau tells indeed, with a satirical tone, this period in Odile (1937). After a trip to Greece of which he liked the language and his service record in Algeria where he learned Arabic, Raymond Queneau is quickly aware of the danger of leaving the literary language away from the spoken language. Bringing these two extremes becomes his literary project.

In 1933, is published his first book, Chiendent, a transposition into a "neo-french" language, both classic and playful, of Discourse on the Method by Descartes. The book won the first literary prize of Les Deux-Magots. Queneau likes to truffer his books of literary references. Published in 1947, Exercices de style (1947), a novel composed of 99 different mini-romans telling the same story, is a major success . The book is inspired by the Art of Fugue by J.S. Bach, heard at a concert with his friend Michel Leiris. In Le Cheval Troyen (1963), Queneau is inspired by the work of Swift. For Le Dimanche de la vie (1952), chronicles of the suburbs life, Queneau borrows its title to Hegel.

As a lover of science, Raymond Queneau also applies arithmetic rules to the construction of his work. With Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes (1961), he manages a literary and editorial challenge. This book offers to the reader the opportunity to combine and compose poems responding to the classic form of regular sonnet. One hundred thousand billion is the number of possible combinations calculated by Queneau : "It is after all a kind of machine to produce poems, but in limited numbers. It is true that this number, albeit limited, provides reading for nearly two hundred million years ago (if reading 24 hours a day). "

In 1960, Queneau constitutes with François Le Lionnais, a literary research group called Oulipo (Workroom of potential literature) involving Italo Calvino, Jacques Roubaud and Georges Perec, spiritual son if ever there is one. (Sources : www.wikipedia.fr, www.republique-des-lettres.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• Monuments. Paris, Editions du Moustié, 1948, in-4, en leaves, folder from the publisher. First edition decorated with de 12 original engravings by Jean-Paul Vroom.
• Un Dimanche dans la vie. Paris, N.R.F., 1951, in-12, bradel. First editionOne of the 160 copies on velin paper.
  
• Si tu t'imagines. Paris, N.R.F., 1952, in-12. First edition. One of the first 82 copies on velin paper.
• Le Cheval Troyen. Visat, 1963, in-12 , in leaves, folder. First edition decorated with 20 original drawings by Christiane Alanore. Copie on velin paper (Arches).
  
• Les Fleurs Bleues. Paris, Gallimard, 1965, in-8. First edition. One of the 45 first copies on Holland paper.
  
• Le Vol d'Icare. Paris, Gallimard, 1968, in-8. First edition. One of the 160 copies on velin paper.
• Battre la campagne. Paris, Gallimard, 1968, in-12. One of the 105 copies on velin paper.
  
• Fendre les Flots. Paris, N.RF., [1969], in-12. First edition. One of the first 35 copie son Holland paper.
  

literature according to Gus Bofa

In 1923, Gus Bofa, illustrator of 20's and 30's, published under the leadership of his friend Roland Dorgelès who wrote the preface, a book of colored drawings : Literary and extra-literary Synthesis. In a warning, Bofa says humorously:
"This elliptical title, although it has a sense, is quite incorrect for the drawings that it announces. A more complete title would have been: Synthesis, Analysis, Exegesis, Prosthetics, Antithesis, Diathesis, Synopsis, Symbols, Parabola, Impressions, literary Expressions and Entertainment. "
Gus Bofa illustrates, in 40 printings, some of the more important names of literature : Proust, Dickens, Maupassant, Zola, etc.

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer, for Gus Bofa's books :

• Synthèses littéraires et extra littéraires. Présentées par Roland Dorgèles. Paris, Éditions Mornay, 1923, in-8. First edition. 40 colored drawings of literature author's portraits by Gus Bofa. Copie on White Vergé paper.
• Le Cirque. Ving-quatre dessins gravés sur bois par Gus-Bofa. Préface de Pierre Mac-Orlan. Paris, Éditions de la Renaissance du Livre, s.d. [1923], in-8. 24 wood engravings by Gus-Bofa.

Grandville visionary

Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gerard, said Jean-Jacques Grandville, is the illustrator who left his mark, by his inventiveness and his talent as a cartoonist, on the Romantic movement, both literary and artistic, of the first half of the nineteenth century. Formed in the city of Nancy, in the atelier of his father, portraitist and miniaturist, Grandville joins Paris at the age of twenty. In 1829, he knows his first success with Les Métamorphoses du Jour, satire of the social and political life. Through hybrid characters, men by body and animals by the facial appearance, Grandville teases the ridiculous and pretentious of his time, and makes fun of the July Monarchy. His satirical drawings, yet liked by publishers, bother Adolphe Thiers who promulgates, under Louis-Philippe, a law requiring a prior authorization for the publication of drawings.

From 1835 Grandville illustrates books (Fables of La Fontaine, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Fables of Florian, Don Quixote, etc). Grandville is never happy with his work, spends an incredible amount of time on each drawing. He continues his exploration of zoomorphic beings with Scènes de la vie privée et publiques de Animaux (1842). He is also interested in dreams and visions. The fantasy of Un Autre Monde (1844), Fleurs Animées (1947) and Etoiles (1849) disturb the public who do not recognize the spirit of the satirical cartoonist and prefer more traditional albums like Cent proverbes ( 1845).
In the last years of his life, Grandville goes through many personal difficulties among which the loss of a child. He speaks little, discovers strange shapes in every surrendings. His madness crisis worry his contemporaries.
Interned in an Asylum for Insane of the city of Vanves, Grandville died in 1847, at the age of forty-four, leaving behind this epitaph: "Here lies Grandville, he loved everything, made everything live, speak and walk, alone, he did not know how to find his way. "
Grandville shown throughout his career an amazing ability to transform everyday life in a fantasy world. His prodigious imagination appoints him as a precursor of surrealism.

(source : http://www.galerietroncin.com - wikipedia.fr).

Currently, the Librairie Loliée can offer :

• Grandville - Swift. Voyages de Gulliver..., Paris, Fournier, Furne, 1838, 2 volumes in-8, binding from the period.
  
• Grandville. Scènes de la Vie Privée et Publique des Animaux, Paris, Hetzel et Paulin, 1842, 2 volumes grand in-8, binding by Champs.
  
• Grandville- Florian. Fables. Paris, J.J. Dubochet et Cie, 1842, in-8, binding by Mercier.
  
• Grandville. Un autre Monde. Paris, Fournier, 1844, in-4, binding by Champs.
  
• Grandville - Reybaud. Jérôme Paturot à la recherche d'une position sociale. Paris, Dubochet, 1846, grand in-8, binding by Champs.
  
• Grandville. Les Métamorphoses du jour, 1854, grand in-8, binding by Hans Harper.
  

Autumn article

We thank France Inter radio which likes the bookshop blog. The article from the broadcasting Blog à part is available here.

Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe

Chateaubriand began writing his memoirs in 1811, the year of his nomination at the Académie Française. He pursues the redaction of this vast autobiographical project for more than thirty years. He writes down the political and historical events of his time and, like Rousseau in his Confessions, says the details of his private life, talks about his personal aspirations. In order to avoid the poor biographies and to delay criticism of his enemies, Chateaubriand wanted to make his work published after his death and released from "outre-tombe", over the grave. (Indeed he changes the original title "Memoires d'une vie "). Pressured by financial problems, he sells his memoirs in 1836 to a company which secured him a decent income for the rest of his days.

In 42 volumes published, Les Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe (full text) stigmatizes the duality of Chateaubriand. The writer claims a freedom of style, exalts his personal feelings with lyricism, while the public man, provides a chronicle of his time who sees the advent of democracy to which he is opposed.
If its detractors reproch him a tumid style and an excessive vanity, Chateaubriand, by his description of nature, his analysis of inner feelings and by of his poetic prose, became a model for the generation of romantic writers. And the legend tells that Victor Hugo exclaimed as child: "I want to be Chateaubriand or nothing! ". (source : wikipedia.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• CHATEAUBRIAND (F.A. de). Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe. Paris, Eugène et Victor Penaud, 1849, 12 volumes, in-8, bound. First edition. Joined : the subscribers list and a letter of Chateaubriand to Delloye. All the covers are in perfect condition, bound in a fresh pastiche in the 19th century style.

Char and the world of art

René Char, poet and resistant, releases in 1946 his Feuillets d'Hypnos, a personal journal written during the Second World War when he was fighting in the ranks of the F.F.C. He carries on publications and expands his audience when, with the help of his friend Albert Camus, he joins up with the editor Gallimard. Provençal by birth and by taste - Char never leaves this area where he receives his friends and works his texts. The 50s and the 60s signal the collaboration of Char with painters and show his work on the reflectivity between poetry and painting. His meeting with Braque is essential. Braque is the painter that allows Char to embody his language other than by words. The two men cooperate on the issue of Le Soleil des Eaux (1949), La Bibliothèque est en feu (1956) and Lettera Amorosa (1963).

La Bibliothèque est en feu (which was first a coded message from the Resistance to announce a parachuting) is a first edition published in 1956 by Broder. The book shows the work of reciprocity between Char and Braque. The text is preceded by an etching, the flight of five birds that stand out with a blue background. The take off by Braque and his forewarning birds reverberates the poetic take off by Char.

After the death of Braque, Char continues his approach of intercreativity with Giacometti, Vieira da Silva, Miro, Zao Wou Ki. Char makes a tribute to painting in Le Monde de l'Art n'ets pas le Monde du Pardon, first edition of selected texts and illustrated with six engravings signed by contemporary painters and friends of Char.
(source : http://www.gallimard.fr/catalog/Html/actu/char-jours.htm)

Currently, the Librairie Loliée can offer :

• Braque (Georges) - Char (René) - La Bibliothèque est en feu. Paris, Broder, 1956, small in-4, broché, case by the editor . First edition with an original etching by Braque. Limited edition at 120 copies signed by the autor and the artist. This one includes two more etchings signed by Braque.
  
• Char (René) - Le Monde de l'art n'est pas le monde du pardon. (Paris), Maeght (1974), in-folio, in leaves, case by the editor. First edition with numerous illustrations in black and colors. Limited edition at 100 copies, signed by René Char and including 6 original engravings by Charbonnier, Wifredo Lam, Miro, Szenes, Vieira da Silva, Zao Wou Ki, signed by the artists.
  

Art. Goût. Beauté

The First World War has a great influence on the evolution of fashion : the absence of men modifies the place of women in the society. Confronted with new responsibilities, women wish to reach a new life style. Corsets are over ! Dresses are shortened, low-cut in the back, the waistline is not marked anymore. Great creators, as Jean Patou, Jeanne Lanvin, or the English Molyneux, set the style of a profile “à la garçonne”. The hats heavily decorated disappear for bell-hats. The new practice of sports imposes the creation of special suits for tennis, golf or mountain. Accessories come to highlight suits.

In 1925, the great exhibition of decorative arts brings innovation in the post-war fashion. Raoul Dufy draws printed fabrics for Bianchini Ferrier. Sonia Delaunay gives Jacques Heim embroidery patterns, Jean Dunand realizes, for the modeler Agnès, hats made of egg shells arranged like mosaics.
(Source: Encarta)

Published in the Twenties and Thirties, the review A.G.B. (Art, Taste and Beauty) reflects the Art deco period which celebrates the woman emancipation. These “layers of the feminine elegance” incorporate many "pochoir" illustrations, present various columns and a historical chronicle on the feminine fashion through the ages. Articles, written in a distinguished and sometimes obsolete and light style, invite to smile: “Nothing is more exquisite, nothing is more delicious than the fine silhouettes of Parisian women, fitted in light clothes, moving on emerald lawns or under the green foliations of the trees.”

Currently, the Librairie Loliée offers a choice of issues.

1 cent life

One cent life is the result of an experimental and collective pace, initiated by Sam Francis, defender of a new aesthetic of color, and which gathers american, for the most part, and european artists. Francis used to receive in his Manhattan's apartment various artists among which Walasse Ting, refugee of China, who wrote poems and made figurative as well as abstract paintings. During one of this meeting, came the idea to publish the most international illustrated book ever done.

With 68 original lithographs, the book reflects the various artistic currents of his time : tachism, CoBrA movement, and of course, pop art.
One Cent life became the proclamation of a new generation of painters, and from now on, a reference in the history of modern art.
(source : http://prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=186065)


Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• Ting (Wallasse). One Cent Life. Written by Wallace Ting, edited by Sam Francis, published by E. Kornfeld. Paris, Georges Girard, 1964, folio, loose as issued in publisher's cloth portfolio with dustjacket and cloth slipcaseen feuilles. Edition limited to 2000 copies. 68 original lithographs in colors by Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Alan Davie, Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Alfred Jensen, Asgar Jorn, Alfred Leslie, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Mel Ramos, Robert Rauschenberg, J.P. Riopelle, James Rosenquist, Saura, Walasse Ting, Bram Van Velde, Andy Warhol.

Varia

The Librairie Loliée presents a Varia list of 19th and 20th centuries first editions and illustrated books.

Varia 2007

Do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to reserve a number.

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Scanreigh, techniques and diversity

Initially inclined to the minimalist abstraction, Jean-Marie Scanreigh, teaching in the Art schools of Nimes, turns at the beginning of the Eighties to engraving and shows great interest for the techniques of editions. His pictorial work grows rich (collage, mixed substances). True devourer of techniques, he does not cease producing. His engraved work counts 150 books and not less than one thousand of prints, woods, linos, etchings...

“[...] Assemblings, puzzles, palimpsests are privileged devices for me : I always need a precondition to work.

For long time it was wreinkled backgrounds, today it is a special collage of my own prints and pages of artist's books. I reinvent a rupestral wall with wrecked surfaces which are as many challenges to take up or to exploit."
J.M. Scanreigh

La Librairie Loliée offers a permanent selection of drawings of the artist.

To see : Jean-Marie Scanreigh's blog.

The enigmatic Badia-Vilato

We know few things of Badia-Vilato, Spanish poster designer. During the civil war, he works for the CNT (National Confederation of Work) and the FAI (Iberian Anarchistic Federation). Under the authority of Pro-Franco, he goes to France. He works for the Air France company and signs some of their more beautiful posters. He continues his engagement against pro-Franco repression and collaborates to the SIA (International Solidarity Antifascist) whose objective is to organize the international aid with Spain. At the end of the Fifties, he settles in South America where his trace is lost.

The work Images de l'Espagne Franquiste, published in 1947 in Paris by the National alliance of the democratic forces of Spain, is representative of the anarchistic and anti pro-franco production of the Forties. On a text printed in three languages - Spanish, French and English - by the movie director Mateo Santos, Badia-Vilato shows virulent and colorful lithographies which point out his surrealist influence. For proof, the two following reproductions:

Educational system in Spain : Yoke and Arrows

vision of death

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer you :

• Badia-Vilato - Santos (Mateo). L'Alliance Nationale des forces démocratiques d'Espagne. Images de l'Espagne Franquiste. [Paris], 1947, in-4, illustrated cover. 1000 copies. One of the 25 first copies on Marais paper, illustrated by 12 lithographies, full page and numbered, by Badia-Vilato.

Le Boeuf sur le toit

Initially composed as the soundtrack of a silent Charlie Chaplin film, Le Bœuf sur le toit becomes a succes when Darius Milhaud transforms his piece into a ballet with a scenario by Jean Cocteau, and with a stage designed by Raoul Dufy. The premiere is given in Paris, en 1920, at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées. This "cinema-symphony based on South American Airs (the title is, by the way, the one of an old brazilian tango) captivates the audience. The decor is that of a bar frequented by several characters : a bookmaker, a dwarf, a boxer, a woman dressed in man's clothing, a policeman who is decapitated by the blades of an overhead fan before he is revived... The Fratellini brothers, famous clowns of the Medrano Circus, were part of the first cast. The choreography was deliberately very slow, in marked contrast to the lively and joyful spirit of the music.
The same year, The Editions de la Sirène release the music score, illustrated by a lithography of Raoul Dufy. (source : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_B%C5%93uf_sur_le_toit_(Darius_Milhaud)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• [Cocteau - Milhaud - Dufy] - Le Boeuf sur le Toit. First Edition with Jean Cocteau's preface et first release of Darius Milhaud's music score. Original lithography by Raoul Dufy in fronstispiece.

Annual closing

Dear readers,
The bookshop will be closed from July, 31 to September, 2.
See you for the reopening.

Visages by Sartre, illustrated by Wols

"Le malheur c'est que je ne vois pas mon visage - ou du moins, pas d'abord. Je le porte au devant de moi comme une confidence que j'ignore et ce sont, au contraire, les autres visages qui m'apprennent le mien. "
In this short text, Jean-Paul Sartre speaks about faces, switching masks, primitive expression of oneself's singularity remodeled by others looks.
Wols completes Sartre's analysis by four drawings, four fragmented faces.
The combination between Sartre and Wols works seems obvious and natural in this not known enough book.

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• Sartre - Wols. Visages. Précédé de Portraits Officiels. Paris, Seghers, 1948, in-12. 4 Pointes sèches de Wols. Copy on Marais paper.
  

Albert Dupont, to the letter

Albert Dupont, born in october 1951 in Hanoï, defines himself as an explorer of the "Art-Rebus", of the "Sens-Script" (wordplay on Sanskrit and "Meaning-script"). Sculptures, paintings, engravings... His work digs the language's poetic, dissects and resets words with humor and humbleness.

After literary studies, Albert Dupont starts engraving during his collaboration with Georges Visat, publisher of the Surrealists. He becomes friend with the painter Matta and meets with Isidore Isou, theorist of Creativity. He joins then the Lettrism and conducts the same named revue. In 1976, he creates another revue, La Novation, and collaborates to the creation of the Internationnal Association of the Letter and the Sign.
His referrals go to artists an poets as Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Breton, Duchamp, Guy Debord... people bending to a "fou-rieuse" (wordplay on mad and wild) revolution.

The Librairie Loliée offers a lasting selection of Albert Dupont's engravings.

Moliere's work

The first and collective edition of Moliere is published in 1682, nine year after the writer's death. «With the tactful help of Armande Béjart, Moliere's widow, the actor La Grange took care of the company's subsistence. Armande gave him all the manuscripts unpublished of the plays and, with the collaboration of Vivot, a theater lover and a personal friend of Moliere, he devolved to posterity all the work of the deceased master.» (in En Français dans le texte, n°119).

This edition, in regard of a first collection of Les Oeuvres de Monsieur de Molière published in 1674-1675, contains six original plays : Don Garcie de Navarre, L’Impromptu de Versailles, Dom Juan, Mélicerte, Les Amans magnifiques, La Comtesse d’Escarbagnas.

Considered as a Major piece, this edition, rare in a binding at this time, can usually be found in binding of the 19th century.

Currently, the librairie Loliée can show you :

• MOLIERE - Les Oeuvres. Reveües, corrigées & augmentées. Enrichies de Figures en Taille-douce. Paris, Denys Thierry, Claude Barbin et Pierre Trabouillet, 1682, 8 volumes in-12, binding by Lortic. Early edition of the 30 engravings by J. Sauvé.

Les Chants de Maldoror by Bernard Buffet

Les Chants de Maldoror of Isidore Ducasse a.k.a Comte de Lautréamont, is a singular atypical book which facinated many painters among which Salvador Dali, René Magritte, Hans Bellmer and also Bernard Buffet.

This epic poem in prose tells the journey of Maldoror, a super human and evil archangel who fights against God and commits murderous acts which reveal his sadism and his homosexuality (full text in french here).
The black and powerful illustrations of Bernard Buffet, who sits the character in modern surroundings, are sometimes disturbing, and can't let someone indifferent. It's one of his more accomplished work.

(source : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Chants_de_Maldoror)

Currently, the Librairie Loliée can offer :

• Buffet [Bernard) - Lautreamont (Comte de) - Les Chants de Maldoror. Paris, les Dix, 1952, 2 volumes in-4, folder and case. Edition limited to only 147 copies on velin blanc d'Arches, illustrated with 125 original decorations throughout by Bernard Buffet.

L'Image

As it is written in the frontispiece from the specimen issue, the revue L’Image "created in 1896, is published by the French Corparate Society of Wood Engravers, for the preservation of an art of which devices intend to disappear. ”

Released from december 1896 to december 1897, this revue reflects a pivotal period, the end of the century, marked by an artistic and decorative renewal. Each text or poem is framed by vegetal elements or figurative scenes. Artists as Mucha, Georges de Feure, Pissaro and many others took part in this project. The quaint approach consists in the will to make of a commun revue a work of art, to break the limits between writers, poets, and decorative artists. Each issue offers various illustrations in black and white or in colors, an extraordinary variety of arabesques, frames, lettrines and finials.
L’Image constitutes a new step in the decorative renascence typical of the nineteen century. (source : http://mapage.noos.fr/bellerydesfontaines/l_image.htm)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer :

• L'Image. Literary and artistic revue decorated with wood engravings. Paris, Floury, 1896, december 1896 to december 1897, 12 issues plus a specimen issue, bound in one volume in-4, illustrated cover. Each issue is complete of the delivery covers.

Matisse and Les Fleurs du Mal

Classical by conscience and education, modern by intuition, Baudelaire, divided by his own convictions, builds the model of a new and demanding poetry which founds his summet with Les Fleurs du Mal (here the whole text, in french). During the publication, the book is caught in the turmoil of a lawsuit for moral offense and for religious outrage - this last charge eventually dropped. Baudelaire is fined and forced to delete six pieces of the collection. The next edition, in 1861, fills out the first collection with thirty new poems. En 1866, Poulet-Malassis, Baudelaire's editor, who took refuge in Belgium, publishes under the title Les Épaves twenty three poems by Baudelaire of which the six censured pieces. For that, he will be condamned by the tribunal of Lille. The definitive and posthumous edition of 1868 is composed of 151 pieces, but again without the six censored poems. These will be pusblished, with those of Les Épaves, in 1869 at Brussels in a book entitled Complément aux Fleurs du Mal de Charles Baudelaire.

In 1944, Matisse, in regard of his friend Rouault who illustrated Les Fleurs du Mal in 1927 for the editor Vollard, chooses to illustrate the famous collection and makes a selection of 33 poems. The book includes an original etching for the frontispiece, 33 full-page photo-lithographs, 33 wood-engraved lettrines and 38 line-drawn decorations (10 full-page). The drawings, for the major part women faces, comprises also portraits of Baudelaire, Apollinaire and a self-portrait. In the book, published in 1947, the line is aerial and flimsy, representative of the painter's taste for uncluttered work, representative of his genius for simpleness.

(Sources : www.ac-strasbourg.fr/pedago/lettres/Fleurs - http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Fleurs_du_mal)

Currently, the librairie Loliée can offer you :

• [Matisse] - Baudelaire - Les Fleurs du Mal. Paris, La Bibliothèque Française, 1947, 320 copies issued, signed by the artist.
  
• Baudelaire - les Fleurs du Mal. Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1860, in-12, bound. Original edition with the first cover.
  

Morand, a travelling life

Paul Morand is born in Paris in March, 13 1888. Only chilf of high bureaucrat and artist Eugène Morand, he is raised in a christian spirit and in a middle-class surrendings. His parents see Sarah Bernhardt, Lord Douglas and Oscar Wilde who estimates this high-spirited boy. When Morand fails at his major examination of philosophy, his father hires as a tutor the young Jean Giraudoux. Morand and Giraudoux become promptly friends. Graduated from the Paris Institut of Political Studies, Paul Morand passes the ambassady examination and becomes a diplomat.

He is in charge in London when WWI begins. Mobilised, Morand however stays in Great Britain till 1916. En 1917, he works for the Foreign Office, then at the ambassies of Rome and Madrid. Under the influence of Valery Larbaud, Morand begins to practise "a literary nomadism". He sees the Surrealists, writes two poems collections. Then, he releases Tendres Stocks, a compilation of Londoner short-stories prefaced by his friend Marcel Proust. It's in 1922 that Morand becomes famous with Ouvert la nuit, and, one year later, Fermé la nuit. Follow then numerous books, chronicals from the various places Morand went to : Europe of course, but also Africa, United-States and India.
Morand goes back to the Foreign Office in 1938. He is again in charge in London during the shutout of 1940. Back in France and forced to retire, Morand surprisingly comes close with the Government of Vichy, and publishes in 1941 Chroniques de l'homme maigre, a book in favor of Marshal Pétain. From this period date also Propos des 52 semaines, L'Homme pressé, Excursions immobiles. In 1943, Morand is nominated Minister of France in Bucarest and then ambassador in Berne. He must leave after the break between Switzerland and the Government of Vichy. At the end of the war he is dismissed by the temporary government of De Gaulle. Begins then a long exile during which he lives in Switzerland and in Spain. He focuses on his work and publishes Le Dernier Jour de l'Inquisition, Le Coucou et le Roitelet, L'Eau sous les ponts, Hécate et ses chiens, La Folle amoureuse, Fin de siècle, Nouvelles d'une vie, Les Écarts amoureux.
Admired by the young generation of the literary movement The Hussards (Roger Nimier, Michel Déon, Antoine Blondin, Jacques Laurent), Paul Morand knows a time of revival. In 1953, he returns to the french administration and eventually retires in 1955. He builds a varied work made of short-stories, essays, and portraits. In 1971, he publishes the moving Venises, one of his last book.
Paul Morand tries to be received at the Académie Française before the war but fails and presents himself a second time in 1958. His candidature causes the hostility of De Gaulle partisans. The vote is suspended. It's only in 1968 that De Gaulle agrees with a new candidature. Tis time, Morand wins, at eighty years old, the vacant post of Maurice Garçon. Exceptionnally, Morand is not received for his investiture by the French President.
Paul Morand dies in July, 23 1976.

Sources : http://www.academie-francaise.fr/Immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=637, Bibliographie des Auteurs Modernes par H. Talvart et J. Place.

Currently, the Librairie Loliée offers

In original editions :

• 1924 La Fleur Double
• 1929 Ma Légende – Le Rhône en Hydroglisseur
• 1930 Champions du Monde
• 1931 Papiers d’Identité – 1900
• 1932 Air Indien
• 1933 Rococo
• 1935 Bucarest
  
• 1936 Les Extravagants – La Route des Indes
• 1947 Montociel Rajah aux grandes Indes
• 1954 L'Eau sous les Ponts

In illustrated books :

• 1924 Tendres Stocks illustré par Chas-Laborde
• 1925 Fermé La Nuit illustré par Pascin
• 1950 Rues et Visages de New-York illustré par Chas-Laborde