May 27, 2009

Paul Eluard and Valentine Hugo : men and animals






SPIDER
Discovered in an egg,
the spider won't go in again.









HEN
Let the hen pond:
hen with its ripe fruits,
Hen with our gain.







quotes from Les Animaux et leurs hommes. Les Hommes et leurs animaux [
Animals and their men. Men and their animals] by Paul Eluard, illustrated by Valentine Hugo.

Actuellement, la librairie loliée propose :
  • Hugo (Valentine) - Eluard (Paul). Les Animaux et leurs hommes. Les Hommes et leurs animaux. Paris, Gallimard, s.d.[1938], in-12. New edition with 22 illustrations in black by Valentine Hugo. Limited to 1300 copies. This one with a hand-writing dedication from Valentine Hugo and Paul Eluard to the poet Philippe Dumaine.

May 14, 2009

The poetic look of Germaine Krull

Close to Surrealism, associated with the Bauhaus and member of the "new photography" - movement launched by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Germaine Krull (1897-1985) favours the graphic and poetic diversion over formalism. The modernity of her subjects (metal architecture, industrial design) earned her the nickname of the "Iron Valkyrie." Her famous shots of the Eiffel tower pushed the photographic conventions of the time. Assertive woman, Germaine Krull fled the envaded France for the United States and, then, joined Brazzaville where she headed the photography department of the Free French Forces. She was the first woman to become a war correspondent (Germany, Italy, Indochina). In 1967, André Malraux, then Minister of Culture, organized the first retrospective of her work at the French Film Library, at the Palais de Chaillot.
(sources : encyclopedia universalis, wikipedia).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :
  • Krull (Germaine) – Nerval(Gérard de). Le Valois. Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1930, tall quarto, cover printed in red. First edition illustrated with 48 photographic reproductions of Germaine Krull. Limited to 1000 copies.

May 07, 2009

Julien Green the visionary

Born American, Julien Green (1900-1998) is a writer we tend to forget the thrust. His fictional work is built along with his theater work and one of the most important literary journals - which runs from 1919 to 1998. Julien Green abjures Protestantism and converts to Catholicism in 1916. Dominated by the theme of salvation, his universe puts up a conventional reality against the search of an inner truth : "The novelist invents nothing, he guesses. He won't be wrong if he obeys this inner voice that speaks in each of us and tells us when we are in truth, and when we are not. This inner truth is all that is really essential ... " (Journal, 5 February 1933).
Between 1926 and 1929, Julien Green published three books forming a trilogy : Mount-Cinère (1926), Adrienne Mesurat (1927) and Léviathan (The Dark Journey - 1929). The respective heroes of these three novels have in common the author's obsession of not feeling lovable, are inhabited by a sense of fatality. The question of good and evil, sexuality are recurring themes of Julien Green, who was one of the few authors to be recognized by his peers during his lifetime and the first foreign-born author to integrate the Académie Française, succeeding François Mauriac.
(source : universalis.fr)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers first editions of Julien Green:
  • Mont-Cinère. Paris, Plon, 1926, in-12, binding by Lévêque. One of the 25 copies on Holland paper with a dedication of the author.
  • Adrienne Mesurat. Paris, Plon, 1927, in-8, binding by Tchékéroul. One of the 212 copies on velum paper.
  • Le Visionnaire. Paris, Plon, 1934, in-12, binding by Huser. One of the 17 copies on Japan paper.
  • Le Visionnaire. Paris, Plon, 1934, in-12. One of the 42 copies on Holland paper.
  • Varouna. Paris, Plon « La Palatine », 1940, in-12, binding by P.L. Martin. One of the 17 first copies on Imperial Japan paper.
  • Varouna. Paris, Plon « La Palatine », 1940, in-12. One of the 17 first copies on Imperial Japan paper.
  • Moïra. Paris, Plon, 1950, in-12, binding by P.L. Martin. One of the 20 first copies on Japan paper.
  • Le Malfaiteur. Paris, Plon, 1956, in-12. First édition apart edition. the text was first published in the volume V fof the Complte Work of Julien Green, under another title (Les éditiosn de Minuit) . One of the 28 first copies on Holland paper.
  • Partir avant le jour - Mille Chemins ouverts - Terre lointaine. Paris, Grasset, 1963-1964-1966, 3 volumes in-12, bindings and cases by J.P. Miguet. One of the 57 first copies on Montval paper for the first volume, and on Holland paper for the two others volumes.
  • Le Mauvais Lieu. Paris, Plon, 1977, in-8. One of the 30 first copies on Holland paper.