Canada seen by Clarence Gagnon

In the early thirties, Clarence Gagnon (1881-1942), who grew up in rural Quebec, undertook an ambitious project: an illustration of the novel by Louis Hemon, Maria Chapdelaine, the flagship title of Franco-Canadian literature. It took more than five years to complete this command which contains 54 gouaches. The criticism is unanimously dithyrambic and Gagnon is recognized as a major Canadian painters. Trained at the Académie Julian, the painter who lived many years in Paris, explained in 1931: "It was not the over-sensitivity of the misunderstood that made me move to Paris....Over there, I paint only Canadian subjects, I dream only of Canada. The motif remains fixed in my mind, and I don't allow myself to be captivated by the charms of a new landscape. In Switzerland, Scandinavia-everywhere, I recall my French Canada."

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Gagnon (Clarence) - Hémon (Louis). Maria Chapdelaine. Illustrations de Clarence Gagnon. Paris, Editions Mornay, 1933, in-4, illustrated cover. Edition with 54 illustrations, in colours, by Clarence Gagnon. Copy on Rives paper.

Annual closing 2009

Dear readers,
The bookshop will be closed from August, 01 to August, 23.
See you for the reopening.

Vicente Huidobro, creationist

Vicente Huidobro (1893-1948), poet from the Chilean aristocracy, publishes his first texts in the early 1910s. In 1916, he moves to Europe with his wife and children and lives between Paris and Madrid. He associates with Surrealists and Spanish avant-garde. Rejecting the authority of André Breton, he begins to theorize the Creationism, a movement that promotes a poetry free of any reference, completely invented : "Create a poem by borrowing from life's patterns and turning them, giving them a new independent life (...) Nothing anecdotal or descriptive (...) Make a poem as nature makes a tree ". [in Manifestes, p. 49, editions of the La Revue Mondiale, 1925].
In Madrid, he influences the birth of the Ultraïsme, Spanish literary movement that intends to exceed the aesthetic standards of the time. Huidobro publishes other books, contributed to various journals (Nord-Sud, L'Esprit Nouveau, and the Spanish issues La Revista Cervantes, Ultra, etc.).. In 1925, he returns to Chile to edit a political newspaper, Acción, denouncing the fraudulent activities of famous politicians. Some thinks he can run for the Presidency. The poet escapes a bomb attack and flees the country. He continues his poetry work and his political activities,from France and Spain and returns, after some years, in Chile.
Never hesitating to judge his peers, Huidobro is often perceived as a man with an imposing ego. While it is true that his opinions are decided, sometimes bitter, full of an aristocratic confidence, Vicente Huidobro remains a figure of the time, regarded with Pablo Neruda - another personality with Breton he never stops criticizing - as one of the most important poets of Chile.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Manifestes Manisfeste Manifest Manifes Manife Manif Mani Man Ma M. Paris, Éditions de la Revue Mondiale, 1925, in-12. First edition.
  
• Tout à coup. Poems. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1925, in-12. First edition with a portrait, in frontispiece, by Picasso.
  
• Tremblement de ciel. With a portrait by Juan Gris. Paris, Éditions de l’As de Cœur, 1932, in-12. First French edition with a dedication to the painter Joseph Sima.

Le Yaouanc 's equilibrium of frame forms

"Not only in the present context, but in his collages for example, Le Yaouanc sometimes contrives things so that the centring of the image, the margins imposed, the placing of the thing painted or engraved or pasted, assume a predominant importance in relation to the given motif which is not allotted all the workable space of the canvas, the collage, the engraving. The painter assumes the role of framer, here, by situating the motif (the statement) in, for example, a rectangle or an oval described on what might be considered the essential element of the work, so adding to the equilibrium of the composition or drawing a sort of suspension - sometimes in the middle, sometimes not - comprising tinted margins that seem to represent a positive accumulation of frames around the still-life that is indeed far from being "still" : a better description of this effect would be the equilibrium of framed forms ."

Louis Aragon - "Pierre sur Pierre" in Le Yaouanc Lithographies - La Pierre d'Angle - 1975

Currently, the librairie loliée offers :

• Le Yaouanc (Alain) – Aragon (Louis). Le Yaouanc Lithographies. Paris, La Pierre d’Angle, 1975, in-folio, in leaves, black publisher's folder. First edition of « Pierre sur Pierre », a text by Aragon who interprets this album composed of 63 color lithographs by Alain Le Yaouanc. One of the 150 copies on Arches paper numbered and signed by Louis Aragon and Alain Le Yaouanc, and including an original lithograph numbered and signed by the artist.
• Derrière le Miroir. Le Yaouanc. Paris, Maeght, n°176 – 1970, in-4, in leaves, illustrated cover, publisher's case. Issue released for LE Yaouanc's exhibition at the Gallery Maeght. One of the 150 copies on Lana paper numbered and signed by the artist, including 8 original lithographs in color.

Marie-Antoinette under the fervent look of Léon Bloy

In 1877, Léon Bloy wrote La Chevalière de la Mort, (Knigthood of death) one of his first texts. This thin study is not released before 1891, in a magazine of the city of Gand and published in a limited edition of 100 copies. Bloy, in the style of Thomas Carlyle, whom he admires the sens of History, tries to look in a spiritual and visionnary way at Marie-Antoinette's figure: "Marie-Antoinette n'est ni profondément touchante, elle ne s'empare des âmes avec une si souveraine puissance d'émotion que parce qu'elle n'est pas une sainte." His tone is often provocative and humorous : "Quand à cette pauvre Marie-Antoinette, elle vint en France comme ce délicieux arc-en-ciel du matin qui présage dit-on, le mauvais temps". He describes Louis XVI as a "Rien des Lys" and goes on : "Marie-Antoinette couchée pendant vingt ans en travers du cœur de Louis XVI, comme le Prophète sur le cadavre de l'enfant mort pour le ressusciter, n'en put jamais obtenir cette palpitation de généreuse fureur qui aurait peut-être suffi pour dégonfler la vessie du bavardage révolutionnaire et, dans tous les cas, aurait honoré, du moins, sa pauvre mémoire."

Léon Bloy, making of the poor convicted Queen an heroic icon, comes to a lyric conclusion : "Elle naquit le jour des larmes, elle vécut une partie de sa vie dans les larmes dévorées, ses derniers jours dans les larmes répandues en pluie, en torrents et, enfin, sa mort, sujet de tant d'autres larmes, fut le Dies iroe, de l'ensevelissement d'une génération, d'une aristocratie, d'un trône et d'un monde".
(Picture : preparatory drawing for the official portrait of Marie Antoinette; painted in 1778 by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Bloy (Léon). La Chevalière de la mort. Gand, Typographie Siffer, 1891, in-12, original covers and back, full blue Levant binding, older and case (Huser). First edition limited to 100 copies. Ex-libris Marcel de Merre.

Magloire-Saint-Aude, the lonely rebel

In the forties and fifties, the Haitian poet Clément Magloire Saint-Aude (1912-1971) was a singular figure, that of a rebellious and solitary writer. He devoted his life to journalism and lived in a poor neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, whose nightlife inspired him. In 1941, he published in quick succession two collections, Dialogue de mes lampes (Dialogue of my lamps) and Tabou (Taboo). His writing, abstruse and opaque, caused the admiration of the Surrealists, including André Breton who met him in December 1945. The Haitian writer, despite his new celebrity, refused to commit himself publicly and pursued his solitary adventure. In 1949, he wrote a novel, Parias in which he outlined the circles he saw. In 1956 is published Déchu (Fallen), his latest collection of poetry. He gradually lapsed into alcohol. François Duvalier, President of the Haitien Republic, granted him in 1967 a monthly allowance to keep him up. Magloire-Saint-Aude then hardly wrote except a few articles often virulent. He died in 1971 leaving, as the only trace of his secret life, a work of great and dazzling poetry.

Aux exploits du poète las,
Mon vitrail disloqué
Aux rails de la mélodie.

Pour ma belle fille naufragée,
Tel l'harmonica du voyou.

Vers l'araignée fêlée
des stances moissonnées.

Sur le buvard aveugle
De mes talents éteints.

quote from the collection Déchu.

Currently, the librairie loliée offers :

• Magloire-Saint-Aude. Dialogue de mes lampes suivi de Tabou et de Déchu. Illustrations de Wifredo Lam, Hervé Télémaque, Jorge Camacho. Paris, chez Jacques Veuillet, collection « Première personne », 1970, in-8. First collective edition illustrated with 3 figures from the etchings of Jorge Camacho, Wifredo Lam and Hervé Télémaque.

Catalogue 2009

The librairie Loliée offers you to download the catalogue 2009 :

part 1 - part 2 - part 3

Alexandre Alexeïeff's shadows

Alexandre Alexeieff (1901-1982), French borned Russian, is considered one of the founders of the animation movie. In 1931, he developed with his partner Claire Parker, a wealthy American student met the previous year, a new technique known as the pin screen. Thousands of pins are mounted on a vertical panel illuminated by a raking light and can be inserted or removed at will. Alexeieff presents in 1933 Night on Bald Mountain, inspired by the music by Modest Mussorgsky, which soon became a classic of animation.

Before being a director, Alexeïeff is an illustrator. After a childhood spent between Turkey and Russia, he settled in Paris in 1921 where he worked as a theater's costumer and designer, for, among others, the Russian Ballets. Having a passion for drawing and engraving, Alexeïeff illustrated many books, both classics of Russian literature and french authors like André Malraux, Philippe Soupault, Joseph Kessel. It is the desire to give life to engravings which will push Alexeïeff to invent his revolutionary animation technique.
After the war, he turned to advertises film-makings (Biscuits Brun, Renault, Esso), which by their experimental technique, are considered true works of art.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Pouchkine (Alexandre). La Dame de Pique. French translation by Prosper Mérimée. Wood engravings in color by A. Alexeieff. Paris, Pouterman, 1928, in-8, binded. Edition illustrated with 13 wood engravings in color. One of the 12 copies on Imperial Japan paper, this one of Marie Laurencin's library, signed by her hand.
• Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Delteil (Joseph). On the River Amour. Translated by Samuel Putnam. Illustrations by Alexeieff. New-York, Covic, Friede publishers, 1929, in-8, binded. Full-page black illustrations. Limited to 1250 copies on Aurelian paper.
• Alexeïeff (Alexandre) - Andersen (Hans). Images de la Lune. Vues par Alexandre Alexeieff. Paris, Maximilien Vox, 1942, in-folio, in leaves, cover, publisher's case. Edition illustrated with 30 original engravings. Limited to 995 copies. This copy printed for the publisher and book-dealer Henri Lefèbvre.
  

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.

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.

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.

From Jean Cocteau to Jean Marais

On 27 April, at Drouot, will be sold personal proterty of Jean Marais, which includes books, autographs and manuscripts. One of the most important and most touching piece is the correspondence of Jean Cocteau to Jean Marais. This exceptional group covers over 25 years until Cocteau's decease in 1963. Reading these letters, we are amazed by the power of the love the author brings to the young actor, met in 1937, and for whom he writes in 1938:
"My beloved Jeannot I have come to love you so strongly (more than anything in the world) that I order myself to only love you as a dad and I want you to know that this is not because that I love you less but more. "
"Jeannot stupidity of lovers is immense, vegetable, animal, astral. What to do? How can I make you realize that I no longer exist besides you."

In 1942, Jean Marais meets actress Mila Parély on the filming of Le Lit à colonnes. He falls madly in love and works again with Mila on the filming of La Belle et la Bête in 1945 under the direction of Cocteau. The author, in a letter dated from February, does not burden himself with this passion between the two actors and says:
"Mila is convinced that you will marry her - after all it would not be so bad. She said :" I have to know because then I would change my life "(with a very serious air )...".

Over the years, the letters keep the same intensity:
"My Jeannot you can imagine my happiness to have spent a few days with you. I waited until the plane disappeared over the mountains with the heart in the throat. And then, in the car, I wanted crying ... " (July 11, 1952)
"My good angel I am back to repeat "l'Aigle". "I did not want to replace the irreplaceable, which would be a ridiculous attempt. I try to tame a young unknown [...] How to reach you? Your Jean." (June 4, 1960).

Succession of Mister Jean Marais
Consultant for books, manuscripts and autographs : M. Erwan de Kerangué - Librairie Loliée
Public exhibitions : Friday 24 April and Saturday 25 April from 11h00 to 18h00.
Auction : Monday 27, april at Drouot.
For the catalogue, please contact Fraysse & Associés : +33 (0)1 53 45 92 10.
Photo : Studio Sebert.

George Barbier's costume dramas

"George Barbier is one of the most valuable and most significant artist of our time, yet so rich in all kinds of talents and minds of any origin. When our time will be fallen like so many others in the dust of dead things, when today's flame will be ashes and dust, it will just take a few watercolors, drawings of Barbier to revive the same taste and spirit of the years that we are living [...] When I look at George Barbier's costume dramas, I have the impression that the characters of those magical stories come to life before me and tempt my imagination. " Edmond Jaloux - in Preface to Vingt-cinq Costumes pour le théâtre

Costumes created for Lysistrata written by Maurice Donnay
left : Agathos - right : a warrior.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Barbier (George). Vingt-cinq Costumes pour le Théâtre. Préface par Edmond Jaloux. Paris, Bloch, 1927, in-4, illustrated cover. Rare book illustrated with a portrait engraved by Charles Martin and 25 plates by George Barbier, emphasized with watercolors and silver. Limited edition to 300 copies on blue-gray paper.

Under the eye of BIEF

The return to power in 1958 by General de Gaulle, following the Algerian crisis, is seen as a fascist coup d'état by the surrealist movement. Under the guidance of André Breton, his faithful collaborator, Gérard Legrand mobilizes the new guard - including Jose Pierre, Jean Robert Benayoun and Schuster, to create the journal BIEF, a surreal junction destined to express the positions of the movement. "In the locks of Surrealism, that is to be understood once and for all that water that goes down and up stays the same, yet always renews itself: BIEF attempts to identify each month, a reflection of that water." (issue No. 1 - November 15, 1958).
On can discover, over the pages, some political articles, as the text by José Pierre published in the issue No. 5 - March 15, 1959 and entitled " A People falling apart." The author is concerned about the "passive disgust" of the youth, a part of which just comes back from Algeria and protests: "We must stop to continually blow up out of proportion Joan of Arc, campaigns of Louis XIV or Napoleon! That the few persons who are not rotten provide youth a true intellectual and revolutionary education. All is not yet lost. "
BIEF also offers literary and artistic criticism as well as a section maintained by Joyce Mansour who uses a nicely and provocative tone. Note that the cover of issue No. 9, published on December, 1th 1959, is devoted to Benjamin Péret, deceased a few months earlier, and who contributed to the journal.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• [REVUE] BIEF. Jonction surréaliste. N°1 à N°12, november 1958 - april 1960. Paris, Le Terrain Vague, 11 stapled booklets, in-4, case. Complete collection, in deluxe edition, of this surrealist journal with illustrations by Benjamin Péret, Hans Bellmer, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Robert Lagarde, Arshile Gorky, Toyen, Mimi Parent, Wolfgang Paalen, etc. Texts by Legrand, Breton, Arp, Mansour, Legrand, Schuster, Péret, etc.
  

Victor Hugo and Olympio's figure

In Les Voix Intérieures (Inner Voices), a collection published in 1837, appears the character of Olympio, Victor Hugo's poetic double. This figure is emblematic of what the poet must be, a guide for the people and leaders. He is the one who sees the truth, the future and who is responsible for transmitting them. André Maurois, in the biography Olympio: The Turbulent Life of Victor Hugo, says : "Writing love poetry is natural to the young man, the poet approaching maturity expects something else for himself. Victor Hugo, between 1836 and 1840, is concerned not to play any public role. Praising nature, the sun and Juliette [Drouet] was good, but can not complete the entire life of a man who wants to "be a spirit driver." Criticism in the Revue des Deux Mondes (Review of the Two Worlds) does not appreciate this Olympio and Gustave Planche writes in the July 15 1837 issue : "It is unfortunate that the name of Olympio is absolutely impossible, but the intention of Mr. Hugo, by creating this barbarism is quite evident. It is clear that in his thought, the idea of himself endorsed the idea of the Olympian Jupiter [...] Mr. Hugo is no longer capable of vision, he found himself a priest and an altar ... " The year of the publication of Les Voies Intérieures, Hugo goes alone at Les Metz, place of his clandestine affair with Juliette Drouet. In the collection Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows), published in 1840, Hugo uses again his allegoric figure in the poem "La tristesse d'Olympio" (The sadness of Olympio). The eternal beauty of nature contrasts with the remembering of a lost happiness. With these verses, Hugo writes a monument of romantic poetry. But, as Maurois states : " criticism, nor Juliette Drouet, then did see the perfection of what was thrown away with a wonderful profusion. "
(Victor Hugo's portrait: © Library of the National Assembly - Irene Andréani photo)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers:

• Hugo (Victor). Les Voix Intérieures. Poésie. Œuvres complètes. VI. Paris, Eugène Renduel, 1837, in-8, binding of the period. First edition.
  
• Hugo (Victor). Les Rayons et les Ombres. Poésie. Œuvres complètes. VII. Paris, Delloye, 1840, in-8, beautifull binding by G. Mercier. First edition. Joined : an autograph letter of Sophie Gay to Victor Hugo in which she praises this collection, dated Versailles May 21 1840 (3 pp. in-8).
• Maurois (André). Olympio ou la Vie de Victor Hugo. Paris, Hachette, 1954, in-8. First edition. One of the first 60 copies on Holland paper.

Ionesco and Absurd

The first piece of Ionesco, La Cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano), first performed in France in 1950, puzzled conservative critics. The following plays are no more successful. The lack of plot, the degradation of language, seen first as provocations, made little by little Ionesco's reputation as an author of avant-garde. The recognition came in 1960 when Jean-Louis Barrault performed Rhinocéros (Rhinoceros) at The Odeon theatre. Béranger, the protagonist is a metaphoric double of the author and first appears in Tueurs sans gages (The Killer) in 1959 and then in Le Roi se meurt (Exit the King) in 1962. With La Soif et la faim (Hunger and Thirst), first performed in 1965 at the Comédie-Française, Ionesco followed his analysis of major metaphysical themes. In this short piece in three episodes, the author describes the religion as an expression of conformism, of the alienation of idealism to the establishment.
To understand Ionesco's work, one must delve into Notes et contre-notes (Notes and Counter Notes), book published in 1962, in which the author talks about the foundation and thrust of his theatre of the Absurd:
"I never understood, for my part, the difference made between comic and tragic. Comic being the intuition of the absurd, it seems more hopeless than tragic. Comic offers no exit. "

Copies that the library offers of La Faim et la Soif and Notes et contre-notes, are dedicated to the painter Byzantios and his wife. Ionesco prefaced two exhibitions - in 1962 and 1972 - of this Greek artist whom he defended the pictorial universe that he described as spiritual.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers first editions of Ionesco :

• Notes et contre-notes. Paris, Gallimard, collection « Pratique du Théâtre », 1962, in-8. First edition dedicated by the author to Denise Byzantios, wife of the painter.
• La Photo du Colonel. Paris, Gallimard, 1962, in-12. First edition dedicated to Madame Andrée Hubert Martin.
• La Soif et la faim. Paris, N.R.F., 1965, in-8. First edition of this rare book. Copy dedicated to the painter Byzantios.
• Présent Passé Passé Présent. Paris, Mercure de France, 1968, in-8. First edition. One of the 60 copies on vellum paper.
• Découvertes. Illustrations by the author. Genève, Albert Skira, collection « Les sentiers de la Création », 1969, in-8, publisher's binding. First edition with black and white illustrations by Ionesco.

Sandra Aftalion's bookbindings

After studying at the Ecole du Louvre, Sandra Aftalion spends six years at the Ateliers d'Art Appliqués of Vésinet (AAAV), where she learns techniques of bookbinding. She completes her training by taking courses in gilding with Alain Coutret and specializes in the art of marquetry.
Wood bindings are the trademark of Sandra Aftalion. Her work with transparency effects is unique. She superimposes layers of various sanded precious woods which are mixed with natural inks to create a modern and delicate binding.

Currently, find a selection of Sandra Aftalion's bindings on display at the library Loliée.

See the website of Sandra Aftalion.

Quiet Days in Clichy with Henry Miller

Quiet Days in Clichy, published in 1956, is a promenade in the heart of Parisian nights during the Roaring Twenties. In this autobiographical novel, Henry Miller recounts his life with his roommate Carl and refers to his women's conquests. One can recognize, in this story, the tone of the author, between modesty of feelings and raw language, which earned him to provoke huge critics. The good contrast of Brassaï's photographs which illustrate the first edition, perfectly echo with the world of Miller.
The story was twice adapted in films : in 1970, under the direction of the artist Jens Jørgen Thorsen, who leans on the text to refer to the sexual freedom of the post-68 years, and in 1990 by Claude Chabrol who focuses on the autobiographical dimension.

"I had no particular desire to go anywhere. I strolled over to the Etoile, which was only a few blocks away, and then instinctively headed down the Champs-Elysées in the direction of the Tuileries, thinking to stop somewhere along the line and have a black coffee. I felt mellow, expansive and at peace with the world."

Henri Miller - extrait de Quiet days in Clichy.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Miller (Henri). Quiet Days In Clichy. Photographs by Brassaï. Paris, The Olympia Press, 1956, in-12. First edition.
  

The narrative poetry of Robert Desnos

Robert Desnos joins André Breton in the early Surrealism and became one of the key members of the movement. He tells his dreams, writes and draws in a state of trance. He uses his technique to express the spontaneity of his inspiration. He feels quickly shut by the doctrine of Breton and left the group in 1930. His style became less eccentric. Desnos develops then a poetry closer to the harsh reality marked by the Second World War. From this period dates Etat de veille (literally "standby state"), which reflects this form of narrative poetry specific to Desnos.

"Poser sa tête sur on oreiller
Et sur cet oreiller dormir
et dormant rêver
A des choses curieuses ou d'avenir,

Rêvant croire à ce qu'on rêve
Et rêvant garder la notion
De la vie qui passe sans trêve
Du soir à l'aube sans rémission.

Ceci est presque normal,
ceci est presque délicieux
Mais je plains ceux,
Qui dorment vite et mal,

Et, mal éveillés, rêvent en marchant.

Ainsi j'ai marché autrefois,
J'ai marché, agi en rêvant,
Prenant les rues pour les allées d'un bois.

Une place pour les rêves
Mais les rêves à leur place."

Rêves - in Etat de veille - 1944

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers first editions of Robert Desnos :

• Deuil pour deuil. Paris, Editions du Sagittaire, les Cahiers Nouveaux, 1924, in-16. Copy on Rives paper.
• Corps et Biens. Paris, N.R.F., 1930, in-8. One of the 109 first copies on Lafuma paper.
• Etat de Veille. 10 gravures au burin par Gaston-Louis Rond. Paris, Pour mes Amis, 1943, in-4, en feuilles, chemise. 10 full page original engravings by Gaston-Louis Rond. One of the 20 copies on Arches paper including one original drawing, 1 suite of the engravings on China paper and 5 refused engravings.
• Mines de rien. Paris, Broder, 1957, in-12, in leaves, publisher's case. 4 full page originals engravings in color by André Masson. Limited to 130 copies on Rives signed by the illustrator.
  
• Mines de rien. Paris, Broder, 1957, in-12, beautiful binding by Semet et Plumelle. 4 full page originals engravings in color by André Masson. Limited to 130 copies on Rives signed by the illustrator. Un des 10 copies not mentionned in the limited edition, including a suite in black of the engravings, each engraving justified an dsigned by Masson.

Poems by Debordes-Valmore

In the 19th century, poetry is a genre reserved for men and few women publish under their real name. The best known of them, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) is a self-taught. Coming from the petty bourgeoisie ruined by the Revolution, the young woman survived becoming an actress and an opera singer. After a failed marriage and the death of her first son, she married actor Prosper Lachantin, said Valmore, with whom she has three children. She published, in 1819, a first collection, Elégies, Marie et Romances. The poetess, then, never stopped writing and put an end to her theatrical career in 1823. She quickly earned the admiration of his peers including Balzac, Victor Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. Her inventiveness, which dusts off the conventionel meter, greatly influenced Verlaine.

(sources : wikipédia, Larousse).

"Quand je t'écris à l'ombre du mystère,
Je crois te voir et te parler tout bas;
Mais, je l'avoue, en ce lieu solitaire,
tout est tranquille, et mon cœur ne l'est pas,
Quand je t'écris.

En vain j'écris : quand l'âme est oppressée,
Le temps s'arrête; il n'a plus d'avenir.
Non, loin de toi, je n'ai qu'une pensée,
et mon bonheur n'est plus qu'un souvenir :
En vain j'écris.

Je n'ai plus d'espérance :
Mais je ne voudrais pas, pour tout mon avenir,
perdre le souvenir! "

Le Billet - in Poésies, Boulard, 1830

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Desbordes-Valmore (Marceline). Poésies. Paris, A. Boulard, 1830, 2 volumes in-8, binding by Mercier. First general edition, with vignettes from Deveria, Henri Monnier, Tony Johannot and Pujol. One of the few copies on thin vellum paper including 4 plates figures in 3 conditions,and the engraving on vellum paper. Joined : two handwritten paper sheets of Desbordes-Valmore (the fist one, a poem and the second, a letter regarding her daughter Ondine).
  

Max Bucaille's daydreamings

At first mathematician, Max Bucaille (1906-1992) joined the surrealist group in 1947. Collagist and poet often overshadowed by Max Ernst, he built a major work. In The Dream Scanner, one of his better knowns books published by G.L.M. in 1950, the poet Jean Laude, writer of the preface, presents the work of the artist:
"Max Bucaille, since it's him we speak about, takes a pair of scissors and glue. He takes old illustrated books and, for our pleasure, daydreams. [...] Who will watch, who will dreams of these images, will maybe better supported in the real world those objects that are composed here. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Bucaille (Max). Le Scaphandrier des Rêves. Preface by J. Laude. Paris, GLM, 1950, in-12. First edition with 13 collages, with the cover, by the artist. Limited to 500 copies on vellum paper.
• Bucaille (Max). Entre le Sommeil et le noir. Paris, Le Nyctalope, 1982, thin in-12, brochée. First edition with 7 collages, by the artist. Limited to 333 copies on Arches paper.
  

The eluvise Alastair

Alastair - artist name mentioned for the first time in 1907 - is the pseudonym of Baron Hans Henning von Voigt (1887-1969), son of a Prussian lieutenant general. Elusive figure, Alastair spent his youth travelling to major European capitals and New York. Self-taught, he earned his living as a dancer, pianist and draughtsman. This last talent gave him notoriety. He exhibited his first works in 1910, in Cologne and Düsseldolf. During World War I, he took refuge in Switzerland and, once the conflict ended, resumed his frantic pace of life. The inter war period is his most productive. He illustrated Wilde, Barbey d'Aurevilly. His style is marked by a predilection for eroticism and baroque and influenced by Aubrey Beardsley. In 1928, when he works on Manon Lescaut for the English publisher John Lane (who has collaborated with Bearsdley), Alastair gives a supernatural and quite surprising tone to the story.

Currently, the librairie loliée offers :

• Alastair – Prévost (l’abbé). Manon Lescaut. Translated from the french the abbé Prévost by D.C. Moylan with eleven illustrations by Alastair and an introduction by Arthur Symons. London, John Lane the Bodley Head ltd, 1928, in-4, publisher binding. 11 original full-page compositions by Alastair. Tirage Deluxe edition limited to 1850 copies.

André Pieyre de Mandiargues

André Pieyre de Mandiargues left a rich and varied work : poems, short stories, novels, plays, essays, interviews, but also prefaces and translations of his friends works. After the publication of his novel La Motyclette and the Prix Goncourt for La Marge in 1967, Mandiargues reached at last notoriety. His fictional universe combines a discrete lyricism with an erotic and baroque imagination, particularly influenced by the reading of German romantics and Elizabethan poetry. Close to surrealists, Mandiargues joined the group after his encounter with André Breton in 1947. However, he maintained a distance with the movement, and always kept a precious and sometimes affected writing which defines his distinguished style.



Currently, the librairie Loliée offers as first editions of André Pieyre de Mandiargues :

• Les Incongruités Monumentales. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1948, in-4. Copie on Alfa paper.
• Soleil des Loups. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1951, in-12. One of the 30 copies on Corvol paper.
• Le Lis de Mer. Paris, Laffont, 1956, in-12, box binding by Honnelaitre. One of the 30 copies on Corvol paper.
• Feu de Braise. Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1959, large in-12. One of the 52 first copies on Montval paper.
• La Marge. Paris, N.R.F., 1967, in-8, binding by M. de Bellefroid. One of the first 40 copies on Holland paper . Prix Goncourt 1967.
• Mascarets. Paris, Gallimard, 1971, in-8. One of the first 42 copies on Holland paper.

Lucien Clergue - New York stripes

Lucien Clergue - Zébrées
5 original photographs taken in New York in 1998

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Clergue (Lucien). Zébrées. Poèmes et photographies par Lucien Clergue. S.l., Le Renard Pâle, collection « Art en Mécénie », 2006, plexiglas case. First edition with 5 original photographs Limited to 28 copies on Rives paper numebred and signed by the artist.
  

Primitive Art according to Wifredo Lam

Cuban painter, born of a Chinese father and a mulatto mother, Wifredo Lam went to Fine Arts School in Havana and then moved to Barcelona to continue his studies. Running away from the Spanish Civil War, he sought refuge in Paris in 1937. Picasso took him under his wing and had him meet with the Surrealists. Lam joined the movement and André Breton offered him to illustrate his poetic collection Fata Morgana. In 1940, Lam went to Marseille where he obtained a visa to leave for Cuba. He took the plane with a few friends, including Breton and Ernst, and eventually landed in his native land. In 1942, the Matisse Gallery in New York organized the first exhibition of his works. Where Picasso and his contemporaries promote African Art as a new approach to European pictorial tradition, Wifredo Lam, in the other way, influenced by great masters - including Bosch and Goya, uses his mixed race heritage to create a primitive word more universal.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Lam (Wifredo) - Jouffroy (Alain). L’Antichambre de la nature. Eaux-fortes originales de Wifredo Lam. Paris, Collection Paroles Peintes, Odette Lazar-Vernet, 1966, folio, loose as issued in the original wrappers. First edition with 9 original etchings by Wifredo Lam. Limited to 85 copies. One of the 50 copies on B.F.K Rives paper, signed by the author and the artist.

Krapp's Last Tape

Krapp's Last Tape (in French, La Dernière Bande) is a monologue primarily written in 1958 for the English radio. Samuel Beckett finally adapts the text to the theater in addition to Endgame played at the Royal Court Theatre of London. The role was created by Patrick Magee, Irish actor for who Beckett imagined the text. In a room occupied by a single table and dusty archives, Krapp, an old and shabby intellectual, records on an antique tape recorder his comments on the past year. He listens to the sound of his own voice and makes a bitter analysis of his vanished existence. Beckett riddles the text with stage indications, specifies the intonation of the voice, indicates the rythme of the delivery in order to create the space in which fits Krapp's memories.
A few months after the first production in London, Beckett translated in French this "monodrama" with the help of Pierre Leyris. It was not until 1960 that the piece is created by Roger Blin at the Récamier theatre in its French version.


Now a classic, Krapp's Last Tape is one of the great dramatic texts by Beckett. Many artists have tried to interpret the figure of Krapp: in 2000 John Hurt in the Atom Egoyan's film adaptation or in 2006, Harold Pinter who, to celebrate the 50th season anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre, took over the role.
(source : Wikipedia).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers Samuel Beckett's french first editions :

• La Dernière Bande. Traduit de l’anglais par Pierre Leyris et l’auteur. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1959, in-12. Limited to 47 copies on Marais vellum paper. Complete of the errata folio.
• Tous Ceux qui tombent. Pièce radiophonique traduit de l’anglais Robert Pinget. Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1957, in-12. Limited to 80 copies on Marais vellum paper.
• Bing. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1966, in-12. Copy on BFK vellum paper.
• Sans. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1969, in-12. Limited to 742 copies on Rives vellum paper.
• Berceuse suivi de Impromptu d’Ohio. Traduits de l’anglais par l’auteur. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1982, in-16. Limited to 99 copies on Arches vellum paper.
  
• Pour en finir encore. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1976, in-12, grey bradel (Mouillac). Copy on Arches Vullum paper.
  

Small and Large Drinks

"As for France, it seems that the cocktail made its first appearance with the Anglo-American bars shortly after the exhibition of 1889. Column talks about it and newspapers are aware of it. Alphonse Allais is prompt to stuff his tales with those new beverage names which have then all the flavour of novelty : Sherry Cobbler, Mint Julep, pick-me-up, prairie oyster, etc. "

Petits et Grands Verres (Small and Large drinks), published in 1927, offers a choice of the best cocktail recipes, sometimes with fanciful names which titillate imagination and taste buds. The 10 engravings by Jean-Emile Laboureur, who illustrates the book, highlight the delicate etiquette of the manners at the time.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Laboureur (J.-E.). Petits et Grands Verres. Choix des meilleurs cocktails. Recueillis par Nina Toye et A.-H. Adair et mis en français par Ph. Le Huby. 10 gravures de J.-E. Laboureur. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1927, in-4. 10 original and full-page ethcings by Laboureur. Limited to 270 copies, this one on vellum paper.
  

Charles Bovary and Flaubert savoir-faire

The first Madame Bovary that we discover in the famous novel written by Gustave Flaubert is not necessarily the one we think about. The story opens with a sketch taken place in a provincial school : "the new fellow", a shy and meticulous boy does not dare throwing on the floor, like his schoolmates, the new and ridiculously pedantic cap his mother makes him wear. In one chapter, Flaubert tells how a relentless maternal love brings Charles, future husband of Emma, to surpass his mediocrity in order to reach an acceptable social status. Madame Bovary wants her son to become a doctor. The young man moves in town to study and is stunned by the list of disciplines he must follows. "He understood nothing of it all ; it was all very well to listen he did not follow. Still he worked, he had bound note-books, he attended all the courses, never missed a single lecture. He did his little daily task like a mill-horse, who goes round and round with his eyes bandaged, not knowing what work he is doing. " In this quote, we can sense Flaubert savoir-faire, the syntax made of simple and acurate sentences which build up to conclude on an obvious and almost cruel metaphor.

One night, Charles, now a rural doctor, is called to treat a fracture, by chance, "simple". He meets Emma and his father, injured. Young widow of an unhappy first marriage, Charles falls in love with Emma. It is through his eyes that we see for the first time this young and pale woman with a look "that came at you frankly, with a candid boldness." After a court whose romantic dimension seduces Emma but reflects mostly Charles clumsiness and inexperience, a marriage is quickly settled. As a happy man, Mr. Bovary becomes puffy, lost in a comfortable routine ; regarding Madam ... after only fifty pages, the issue comes as a bolt from the blue : "Before marriage, she [Emma] thought herself in love ; but the happiness that should have followed this love not having come, she must, she thought, have been mistaken. And Emma tried to find out what one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Flaubert (Gustave). Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province. Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 1857, 2 volumes bound in one, in-12, full red levant, original covers preserved, case (Chambolle-Duru). First edition.

When Louis Legrand illustrates Edgar Poë

Bank employee, Louis Legrand takes night classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Dijon. It is then with Félicien Rops that he learns the techniques of printmaking. He becomes famous by working as a cartoonist for the periodical Le Courrier Français. His dark and macabre vision of Paris nights causes him to be charged for obscenity and briefly imprisoned in 1891. Legrand then turns to more soft subjects and participates in Gil Blas, an illustrated periodical which makes sales records. His engravings on dance classes are reprinted, the following year, by E. Dentu, under the title Cours de danse fin de siècle. Legrand continues to describe this art with Les Petits du Ballet published in 1893 by Gustave Pellet. This is the beginning of a long collaboration with the editor who published thereafter among the most beautiful works of Toulouse-Lautrec, a master who outshined Legrand yet his predecessor.
In his study of the work of the painter, published also by Pellet, Camille Mauclair focuses on the illustrations made for Quinze Histoires d'Edgard Poe and adds :
"Those fifteen plates are little known and not often reproduced. They deserve yet to be widely shared, not only because of their beauty, but because they are so far the only illustrations work that someone dared try of these terrible masterpiece. "

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Legrand (Louis) - [Baudelaire (Charles)]. Quinze Histoires d'Edgar Poë. Illustrations de Louis Legrand. Paris, imprimé pour les Amis du Livre, Chaumerot et Renouard, 1897, in-4, binding in full black levant (Chambolle-Duru). Edition illustrated with 15 full-page original etchings, in two state, on Japan paper, et with 30 in-text drawings.
• Legrand (Louis) – Ramiro (Erasthène). Faune Parisienne. Paris, Gustave Pellet Éditeur, 1901, in-4, binding full brown levant (Canape). First edition illustrated with 19 original etchings by Louis Legrand, including the cover. Limited to 130 copies. This one with a second state, in black of the etchings et with two original drawings enhanced with watercolors.
• [Legrand (Louis)] - Mauclair (Camille). Louis Legrand, peintre et graveur. Paris, H. Floury et G. Pellet, 1910, petit in-4. Important study with many illustrations.