Joë Bousquet : spiritual mentor of his time

Born in Narbonne, Joë Bousquet (1897-1950) was only 17 years old when he committed on the front of the First World War. He quickly became the most decorated officer of his regiment. But, in 1918, he is hit by a bullet which cut through his spinal cord. Incapacitated, he spends the rest of his life lied down, legs paralysed. He composes then numbers of poems in prose, develops an mystic and erotic aesthetic, literally using writing as a way of life. He exchanges long and fruitful correspondences and receives in his room, now a literary salon, his contemporaries : Surrealists, with whom he has a special relationship, André Gide and Jean Paulhan among others. Little-know figure for the general public, Joë Bousquet, however, was the advisor and confidant to an entire generation of artists.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Traduit du Silence. Proses. Paris, Les Cahiers du Journal des Poètes, série poétique N°65, 1939, in-12, covers. First edition. Copy on Featherweight paper.
• La Connaissance du soir. Paris, Les Éditions du Raisin, 1945, in-4, in leaves, cover on pearly japan paper, publisher's case. First edition. One of the 150 copies on Marais vellum paper, this one reserved to the publisher's wife, Madam J Ricciotto Canudo, with a long hand wirtten dedication from the author.
  
• Lettres inédites à poisson d’or. Traduction de Adriano Marchetti. Gravures sur bois de Giampiero Guerri. Cesena, s.é. (chez l’illustrateur), 1997, in-4, in leaves, illustrated cover, hard folder illustrated and signed by the artist. Edition illustrated with 2 original wood engravings numebred and signed by Giampiero Guerri. Limited to 99 copies. Text in French and Italian.
  

Pascal Le Gras : serial offender artist

Born in 1962, Pascal Le Gras, born in 1962, studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Caen and does his first exhibition in 1981 as part of a collective of artists, Expression 14. Joël Hubaut supports his first solo show two years later. Painter and video artist, he is also known for his illustrations of music album covers, including those of post-punk group The Fall. His pictorial universe, influenced by the movement of Free Figuration, lets us see an unpretentious, simple and colourful phantasmagoria.
Based in Paris since 1987, Pascal Le Gras multiplies collaborations. He publishes in 2006 a book with Michel Bulteau: Contreblasons . His work is closely tied to music.

More informations on Pascal Le Gras website & Facebook's page.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Le Gras (Pascal) - Bulteau (Michel). Contreblasons. L’Hay-les-Roses, Aux dépens de deux amateurs : Alain-Paul Diaz et François Gleize, 2006, in-4, in leaves, covers. First edition with three original compositions by Pascal Le Gras. Limited to 40 copies on Rives paper, signef by the author and the artist.
  

Valery Larbaud, "forgotten of the 20th century"

Larbaud Valery (1881-1957), only son of a pharmacist who owns the sources of Vichy Saint-Yorre, lost his father at age 8 and is raised by his mother then his aunt. Bachelor of Letters he published anonymously in 1908 a first book, Poèmes par un riche amateur. Leading a dandy life despite his fragile health, he travelled a lot, nourishing his culture. Fermina Marquez, his first novel, is published in 1911. Renowned translator, he introduced in France authors as James Joyce, William Faulkner. In Ce Vice impuni la lecture - Domaine Anglais, famous essay published in 1925, Valery Larbaud explained his consuming passion for books. He leaned on his experience of a compulsive but also critical reader to describe the steps that lead to the status of "fine scholar". A magazine asked him what his favorite English book was. In response, Valery Larbaud sent a photograph of the English department of his personal library with the comment : "Certainly I do not like them all equally, but there is not one I want to get separated. I assume that this room is British territory in the same manner as a consulate." In 1935, stricken by a cerebral hemorrhage, Valery Larbaud became hemiplegic and aphasic. He was forced in 1948 to sell his property and ceded his library of fifteen thousand volumes to the town of Vichy.

(Source : L'Express)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Poèmes pour un riche Amateur ou Œuvres françaises de M. Barnabooth. Précédés d'une introduction biographique. Paris, Léon Vanier, 1908, in-12, covers, full red Levant binding by Alix, case. First edition, no deluxe printings. This copy with a dedication to H. Buriol.
• Enfantines. Paris, N.R.F., 1918, small in-4, covers. First edition. One of the 70 copies reset on Lafuma paper.
• Amants, heureux amants. Paris, N.R.F., 1923, in-4, semi-industrial binding called "Revorim" by J. de Gonet. First edition. One of the 108 first copies in "in-quarto tellière" format on Lafuma Navarre vellum paper.
• Les Poésies de A. O. Barnabooth. Paris, Gallimard, 1923, in-12. First separated edition of these poems. Limited to 100 copies on Lafuma Navarre vellum paper.
• Ce Vice impuni, la lecture…. Domaine anglais. Paris, Albert Messein, collection « La Phalange », 1925, in-12, covers, red half Levant binding by P.L. Martin. First edition. Copy on vellum paper.
• Paul Valéry et la Méditerranée. Paris, Stols, 1926, booklet in-8, covers. First edition. One of the 300 first copies on Holland paper.

Correspondence :

• Larbaud (Valery) – Stols (A.A.M.). Correspondance 1925-1951. Paris, Éditions des Cendres, 1986, 2 volumes in-8, covers, publisher's case. First edition. One of the 30 first copies on Ingres Arches paper.

Illustrated editions :

• Beauté, mon beau souci… Illustré de 37 gravures par Laboureur. Paris, NRF, 1920, in-8, illustrated green covers. First edition limited to 412 copies on Lafuma-Navarre paper, and illustrated with 37 original engravings by Laboureur. These copy contains an original colored pencil drawing iand a dedication to J. E. M. Manuel.
• Enfantines. Illustrés par Jeanne ROSOY, Germaine LABAYE, HALICKA, Hermine DAVID. Paris, Gallimard, 1926, 4 volumes in-8, illustrated hard covers in "chromotypographie", case. First illustrated edition with 24 original engravings by Jeanne Rosoy (volume 1), Germaine Labaye (volume 2), Halicka (volume 3) and Hermine David (volume 4). One of the 300 numbered copies on Holland paper.
• Caderno. Orné de huit pointes sèches, hors-texte, gravées par Mily Possoz. Paris, Au Sans Pareil, 1927, petit in-8, covers. First edition with 8 original engravings by Mily Possoz. Copy on vellum paper.
• Le Palais de Cristal. Montpellier, Fata Morgana, 2002, petit in-12, covers. Édition illustrated with 11 original calligraphies by Jean Cortot. Limited to 500 copies. On of the 30 first copies including a hand emphasized calligraphy by Jean Cortot, dated and signed.

Saint-Denys and the first theories on dreams

Marie-Jean-Léon Le Coq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis de Saint-Denys (1822 – 1892), sinologist, published anonymously in 1867 a singular book : Les Rêves et les moyens de les diriger (Dreams and how to direct them). Avant-garde, the Marquis de Saint-Denys described dreams in which the dreamer is conscious of dreaming and he suggested techniques to control these dreams. At the age of 13 years, the author began to keep a diary. He noted deficiencies in the conduct of his dreams. After six months of monitoring, he managed to fill holes in his dreamlike memory. For him, images of our dreams come from snapshots of memories, memory functioning as a camera. The spirit then recombines, during sleep, these snapshot souvenirs. In practice, the Marquis de Saint-Denys managed to control his "lucid"dreams.
This book is one of the first serious research on the subject. Marcel Proust will use it to write certain portions of A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). In 1899, the work of Saint-Denys will be cited by Sigmund Freud in his Intepretation of dreams. The book will also influence the surrealist André Breton, who names the Marquis de Saint-Denys in the first pages of Les Vases communicants (The Communicating Vessels).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• St-Denys (Marie-Jean-Léon Le Coq, baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis de). Les Rêves et les Moyens de les diriger. Observations pratiques. Paris, Amyot Éditeur, 1867, in-8, Bradel binding in cream half-vellum (Paul Vié). First edition. Frontispiece in colours. From the library of the french writer Anatole France with a hand-written note.

Surrealist tracts from the Aragon case

In 1927, following Paul Eluard and with André Breton, his two friends from Surrealism, Louis Aragon joined the Communist Party. In 1930, he went to the USSR, to represent the Surrealists Congress of Revolutionary Writers in Kharkov. Vladimir Mayakovsky, critic of the new regime, has just committed suicide. The Communists of strict obedience suspect the surrealists to drift to Trotskyism and anarchism. Aragon took sides and, on his return to France, published a poem, Front Rouge, which broke with surrealism aesthetic. His tone is provocative [Pliez les réverbères comme des fétus de pailles / Faites valser les kiosques les bancs les fontaines Wallace / Descendez les flics / Camarades / descendez les flics / Plus loin plus loin vers l'ouest où dorment / les enfants riches et les putains de première classe/ Dépasse la Madeleine Prolétariat/ Que ta fureur balaye l'Élysée] and, in 1931, Aragon is charged for inciting to murder.
If Breton defends him by publishing L'Affaire Aragon, he also denounced in Misère de la poésie how Front Rouge is "poetically regressive". The break -up between Surrealists and Aragon is consumed.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Certificat. Paris, 1932. 1 leaf in-4, recto. Printed in black on green paper. Famous tract against Aragon signed by Paul Eluard who ends with a Lautreamont quote : « Toute l’eau de la mer ne suffirait pas à laver une tache de sang intellectuelle. »
• L’Affaire Aragon. Paris, january 1932. 2 leaves in-4, the second removable, printed in red on velum white paper. Tract asking for solidarity with Aragon, signed by 12 members of the movement.
  
• Paillasse ! (Fin de « l’affaire Aragon »). Paris, Éditions Surréalistes, March 1932. stapled booklet, in-8. Pamphlet against Aragon by Char, Crevel, Dali, Eluard, Ernst, Péret, Tanguy et Tzara.

Catalogue 2010

The librairie Loliée offers you to download the catalogue 2010 :

Salammbô illustrated by Rochegrosse

Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938) grew up surrounded by artists and man of letters. His widowed mother remarried the poet Théodore de Banville, then in the top of his celebrity.
In the family apartment, the young Rochegrosse met with the intellectual elite of the time: Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire and the Parnassians whom Banville is one of the leaders. From childhood, he liked to draw and his sketches are subjected to passing friends. Gustave Flaubert, charmed by a set of views of Carthage, said incidentally :
- Once you have the talent, I'll order you the illustrations of Salammbô.

This remark as a joke come true though 25 years later when the publisher Ferroud inquired Rochegrosse, now established and recognized, to illustrate Salammbô. It was in Barbizon, village of the pre-impressionists, that the illustrator achieved his work, supported by his friends, including the actress Berthe Bady who helped to make a relief map of Carthage inspired by Flaubert's description in the novel's opening. To give life to Salammbô, Rochegrosse is inspired by the bust of the Lady of Elche, discovered in 1897. In the Orientalist's style, Rochegrosse worked with retail the charm of local colours and highlighted what the novel contains of non-European exoticism.

(Source : Georges Rochegrosse, sa vie, son œuvre par J. Valmy-Baysse - Paris, F. Juven, 1910)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Rochegrosse (Georges) - Flaubert (Gustave). Salammbô. Compositions de Georges Rochegrosse, gravées à l’eau-forte par Champollion. Préface de Léon Hennique. Paris, Ferroud, 1900, 2 volumes, large in-8, full Levant binding by Gruel. First impression. 52 compositions in black. Exemplaire H.C. on vvellum paper with two more states of the engravings.

The flambloyant Walasse Ting

Walasse Ting, a Chinese-American artist, was born in Shanghai in 1929. In 1946, he left China for Hong Kong and then moved to Paris in 1952. He got close to the avant-garde movement CoBrA. In 1957, he moved to New York and was influenced by Pop Art. He participated in the publication of One Cent Life, a major illustrated book of Modern Art. Walasse Ting, master of acrylic, has a characteristic style : colourful palette, intense light. In 1958, Ting wrote a series of poems My Shit and My Love, which was be published for the first time in 1961 by the Smith Gallery in Brussels.

JUST LOVE

I live white skeleton
Meet love
Blood jump
Rain flood night
We drink three thousand wine cup
Make one million love
Ten Thousand paintings
Sex cyclone
Conquers fire :
Six suns crash
Nine volcanoes spit
Seven oceans leap
Ninety nine dragons roar
Eight thousand thunders open in one second
Life great happy
Death not sad
Why I tremble?

Walasse Ting - in My Shit and My Love - 1961

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• TING (Wallasse). My Shit And My Love. 10 poems. Bruxelles, Galerie Smith, novembre 1961, in-4, stapled, illustrated cover. First Wallasse Ting 's publication with 2 original lithographs in colour. Limited to 1099 copies.

Dorothea Tanning : a surrealism woman

Born in 1910, Dorothea Tanning left his family in 1930 to follow the course of the Academy of Arts in Chicago. She then moved to New York and lived from advertising works. She is strongly impressed by the 1936 exhibition "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism" and, in 1942, she joined the New York surrealism's group led by André Breton in exile. She met Max Ernst, who is then married to Peggy Guggenheim. She became, in 1946, the fourth wife of the German artist, during a double ceremony which also united Man Ray to the dancer Juliet Browner. In 1953, Ernst and Tanning settled in France. Two years after the death of Max Ernst in 1976, Dorothea Tanning returned in New York.
Her work is anchored in Surrealism but focuses more specifically, in the 50s, on the figure of the woman, of the muse. In 1974 a retrospective is done in Paris, at the Center Pompidou, by Pontus Hulten.

At nearly 100 years, Dorothea Tanning is one of the last living members of the surrealist movement.

(source: dorotheatanning.org)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Tanning (Dorothea) - Sartoris (Ramon). Three Plays. S.l [Washington], The Black Sun Press, 1944, in-4, hardcover. First edition with 3 original drawings by Dorothea Tanning. This copy is dedicated by Tanning to Paul Eluard.

Pleasant illustrations by Mister Boucher

Born in Chartres, Lucien Boucher (1889-1971) studies at the School of Ceramics in Sèvres and makes his debut as a cartoonist for the magazine Le Rire. He also works for the magazine Fantasio. After the First World War, he participates in the revival of the illustrated book by working for the publisher Marcel Seheur. Thus appears La Batrachomyomachie (1920) or Boutiques de la Foire (1926) by Pierre Mac Orlan, author for whom he illustrates many first editions. He pursues a parallel career as a poster for the film and fashion industry. He is known for his long collaboration with Air France, a company for which he produces posters and world maps.
Thick lines, simplified shapes, contrasting colours : the style of Lucien Boucher is typical of that of the interwar.

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• [Boucher (Lucien)] - Homère. La Batrachomyomachie. Poème attribué à Homère. Translaté du grec en français par Mario Meunier, orné de bois gravés par Lucien Boucher. Paris, Chez Marcel Seheur, 1920, in-8, covers. Limited to 525 copies. One of the 100 coloured up copies , with originals wood engravings by Lucien Boucher with a suite in black on Holland paper.
• [Boucher (Lucien)] - Mac Orlan (Pierre). Boutiques de la Foire. Paris, Marcel Seheur, 1926, small in-4, , covers. First edition with 37 original lithographs in colours by Lucien Boucher. Limited to 516 copies. One of the 500 copies on Arches paper.

The outrageous Roger Peyrefitte

Formed by the Jesuits, Roger Peyrefitte (1907-2000) integrates the free school of political sciences. In 1930, he is appointed secretary to the ambassador in Athens before being recalled to Paris in 1938, following an incident with the young protégé of a Greek admiral. He resigns in 1940 but resumes his duties in Paris in 1943. The publication in 1944 of his first novel, Les Amitiés particulières, gives him immediate fame, crowned by the Prix Renaudot. The story chronicles the journey of George, a young boy who joined a Jesuit school in Languedoc, where he lives a love story with a comrade. The sulphurous reputation gained with this book marks the end of Roger Peyrefitte's diplomatic career. He becomes then a full-time writer and publishes an important work, including an important biography of Alexander the Great. With André Gide, he is one of the few authors to talk about homosexuality, denouncing with irony and sophistication, the hypocrisies of the society in which he evolved.
(source : wikipédia)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Les Amitiés particulières. Marseille, Vigneau, 1943, in-4. First edition. One of the 200 copies on Johannot vellum paper with a dedication from the author to Madame Marthe Peyrony.
• La Mort d’une mère. Paris, Flammarion, 1950, in-8, full levant binding by Bellavée . First edition. One of the 30 first copies on Lana paper with a long dedication from the author to his "dear Marie-Françoise".
• Chevaliers de Malte. Paris, Flammarion, 1957, in-12. First edition. Oneof the 100 first copies sur on Marais paper.
• L’Enfant Amour. Paris, Flammarion, 1969, in-8. First edition. A copy on Madagascar vellum paper..

Picabia dada

ALAS!
Women Men
Business
A country ambitious
Of sovereignty
I like that one bends eyes
of troubles
Especially in the sea chest
But I tell disinterested lies
It's almost the same thing
The truth of the soul
Is the great cowardice of academic pride
My eyes in your eyes
I'm happy
In my isolated loneliness

Picabia (1879-1953) - Poem and reproduction quote from Poèmes et dessins de la fille née sans mère.

Currently the librairie Loliée offers :

• Jésus-Christ Rastaquouère. Dessins par Ribemont-Dessaignes. S.l. (Paris), Collection Dada, s.d., in-8. First edition. This copy contains a dedication from the author to Pierre Birot, director of the artistic revue SIC.
• Poèmes et dessins de la fille née sans mère. 18 dessins - 51 poèmes. Lausanne, Imprimeries Réunies S.A., 1918, in-8. Rare first edition.
• Laissez déborder le hasard. Gravure de Gianni Bertini. S.l., P.A.B., s.d., in-4, in leaves. First edition of this poem illstrated with an original engraving by Gianni Bertini. Limited to 29 copies, this one signed by the publisher P.A.B. and designed to Michel Perrin.
  
• Oui Non. S.l., P.A.B.,1953, in-16, brochée. First edition. Limited to 111 copies numbered and signed by the publisher P.A.B.
• [PICABIA (Francis)]. Francis Picabia 1879-1954. S.l., Orbes, 1955, in-8, in leaves. Not for sale booklet published in tribute to Picabia. Limited to 191 copies on Auvergne paper. Texts and reproduced drawings by Jean Arp, P.-A. Benoît, Camille Bryen, Marcel Duchamp, Bernard Fricker, Jean Van Heeckeren, George Isarlo, Jacques-Henri Lésveque, Man Ray, Pierre de Massot, Michel Perrin, H. Saint-Maurice.

La Varende and the nostalgia of nobility

Jean-Balthazar Mallard Viscount de La Varende (1887-1959), descendant of an old Norman family, was born in the ancestral castle of Chamblac in the Pays d'Ouches. The year of his birth, his father died and his mother, Brittany, returned living in Rennes. La Varende was raised by his grandfather, the navy Admiral Langle. Unable to be a sailor because of a weak heart, he entered the Beaux-Arts in Paris. Returning from the war of 1914-1918 when he was mobilized as a medic and hospital porter, he moved to the castle of Chamblac. He built a collection of ship models, maintained his property, married and began writing short stories and novels. If he produced a lot, he had difficulties getting published. His first success came in 1937 with the reissue by Plon of Nez-de-cuir, gentilhomme d'amour (Nose-of-leather, a gentleman of love) published the previous year by Maugard in Rouen. La Varende portrayed a Count having a facial injury received during the war of 1814, who became a local Don Juan and fell in love with the only woman who resisted him. With Le Centaure de Dieu (God's Centaur), he won the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy in 1938. La Varende built a regionalist but also epic work, full of great heroic figures. He also wrote many historical books. In 1939, while the second war broke out, La Varende lost his wife. He leaved then retired in his castle, publishing short stories in newspapers mostly collaborationists. In 1941, he entered the Academie Goncourt but resigned two years later, avoiding a probable exclusion. La Varende is accused to have sympathy for Nazi Germany. Adamant man, he always maintained his royalist convictions, without compromising himself with the Vichy government. Nostalgic of a bygone era, he wrote about his passions: Normandy, seas and nobility.

Actuellement la librairie Loliée propose les éditions originales suivantes :

• Nez-de-Cuir, gentilhomme d'amour. Rouen, Maugard, 1936, in-4, demi-maroquin havane à coins, dos à nerfs orné de croisillons dorés, tête dorée, couverture et dos conservés (Huser). Exemplaire sur vergé teinté.
• Le Centaure de Dieu. Roman. Paris, Grasset, 1938, in-12, broché. Un des 75 exemplaire sur pur fil, celui-ci nominatif.
• Le Roi d'Ecosse (Provinciale). Paris, grasset, 1941, broché. Un des 13 premiers exemplaires sur Japon impérial.
• L'Homme aux gants de toile. Paris, Grasset, 1943, in-12, broché. Un des 30 exemplaires sur vélin pur chiffon. Frontispice en camaïeu de Louis-Joseph Soulas.
• Indulgence plénière. Paris, Grasset, in-12, broché. Un des 52 exemplaire sur Montval.
• La Dernière fête. Paris, Flammarion, 1953, fort in-12, broché. Un des 145 premiers exemplaires sur pur fil d'Arches, celui-ci tiré pour la société des bibliophiles "Les Amis des Beaux-Livres".

Militant atheism of The Marquis de Sade

Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man, dated 1782, is the oldest manuscript known of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814). The "divine" Marquis makes a philosophical dialogue between a clergyman and a libertine. He strives to prove the nonexistence of God and exposes his militant atheism. The reason is ultimately the only guarantor of human morality :

"Reason, sir - yes, our reason alone should warn us that harm done our fellows can never bring happiness to us; and our heart, that contributing to their felicity is the greatest joy Nature has accorded us on earth; the entirety of human morals is contained in this one phrase: Render others as happy as one desires oneself to be, and never inflict more pain upon them than one would like to receive at their hands.

There you are, my friend, those are the only principles we should observe, and you need neither god nor religion to appreciate and subscribe to them, you need only have a good heart. But I feel my strength ebbing away; preacher, put away your prejudices, unbend, be a man, be human, without fear and without hope forget your gods and your religions too: they are none of them good for anything but to set man at odds with man, and the mere name of these horrors has caused greater loss of life on earth than all other wars and all other plagues combined. Renounce the idea of another world; there is none, but do not renounce the pleasure of being happy and of making for happiness in this. Nature offers you no other way of doubling your existence, of extending it. - My friend, lewd pleasures were ever dearer to me than anything else, I have idolized them all my life and my wish has been to end it in their bosom; my end draws near, six women lovelier than the light of day are waiting in the chamber adjoining, I have reserved them for this moment, partake of the feast with me, following my example embrace them instead of the vain sophistries of superstition, under their caresses strive for a little while to forget your hypocritical beliefs.

NOTE : The dying man rang, the women entered; and after he had been a little while in their arms the preacher became one whom Nature had corrupted, all because he had not succeeded in explaining what a corrupt nature is."

Currently, the librairie Loliée Offers :

• Sade (Donatien Alphonse François, dit le Marquis de). Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribond. Publié pour la première fois sur le manuscrit autographe inédit avec un avant-propos et des notes de Maurice Heine. Paris, Stendhal et Compagnie, 1926, small in-4, cover. First edition. One of the 20 first copies on Imperial Japan paper.
• Sauvage (Sylvain) - Sade (Donatien Alphonse François, dit le Marquis de). Ernestine. Paris, J. Fort, 1926, in-8, binding . 9 etchings and a frontispiece in colors by Sylvain Sauvage. Limited to 576 copies. One of the 12 copies on Imperial Japan paper especially published for Edouard Champion - copy without the watercolour. A suite of etchings plus a refused etching, a final suite in black of the etchings, and a refused etching printed in colours.
• [Sade] Paulhan (Jean). Le Marquis de Sade et sa complice ou les revanches de la pudeur. Paris, Lilac, 1951, in-12. First edition. Copy on Johannot paper.

Visual language of Jean Dubuffet

Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) is famous for his paintings and installations that made him one of the first figures of Art Brut. He is also an author who enjoyed playing with syntactic forms of language. His first book, Ler dla canpane issued in 1948. Through his publications, Dubuffet mixed poetry, portmanteau words and puns to study how language works in conjunction with typography and layout. Between 1962 and 1974, he worked on the serie of l'Hourloupe, a project involving paintings, sculptures, installations and texts. These creations are distinguished by flat areas of red, blue, white and black like the illustrations made for La Botte à Nique, published in 1973. Near the Surrealists in the 40s, then a member of the College of Pataphysics in the 60s, Jean Dubuffet always reflected on language's concepts. He invented a poetic and visual slang still unique.

Currently, the librairie loliée offers :

• [Dubuffet (Jean)] - (Paulhan (Jean). Lettre à Jean Dubuffet. Paris, Galerie René Drouin, 1944, booklet in-8. Catalogue of the exhibition of paintings and drawings by Jean Dubuffet at the galerie Drouin from october to novembrer 1944. First edition of the preface by Jean Paulhan.
• [Dubuffet (Jean)] - Guillevic. Elégies. Avec une lithographie de Jean Dubuffet. Paris, Le Calligraphe, 1946, in-8. First edition with an original lithograph in colors by Dubuffet. Limited to 306 copies on Rives paper. Copy with a dedication from the author to the writer Alain Bosquet.
• Dubuffet (Jean). Ler dla canpane. Paris, l’Art Brut, 1948, in-12. Firt edition of the first book written by Dubuffet . 6 engravings in black.
• Dubuffet (Jean) - Paulhan (Jean). La Métromanie ou les dessous de la Capitale. Par J. Paulhan, calligraphié et orné de dessins par son ami J. Dubuffet. Paris, s.é., 1949, in-12 , publisher's binding. First edition limited to 150 copies, entirely lithographed.
  
• Dubuffet (Jean). Paintings by Jean Dubuffet. New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1950, booklet in-8 , illustrated cover. Catalogue with 4 original lithographs by Dubuffet.
• [Dubuffet (Jean)] – Limbour (Georges). L’Art Brut de Jean Dubuffet. Tableau bon levain à vous de cuire la pâte. Paris, Drouin, 1953, in-4, cover and case. First edition. Many reproductions in black and colors.
  
• Dubuffet (Jean) – Volboudt (Pierre). Les Assemblages de Jean Dubuffet, signes Sols Sorts par Pierre Volboudt. Paris, F. Hazan, 1958, in-4, in leaves, publisher's case. Edition with 17 plates in black and colors. Limited to 770 copies, this one on white velum paper.
  
• Dubuffet (Jean). La Fleur de Barbe. S.l., s.n.é., 1960, in-folio, in leaves, folder. 4 compositions by Jean Dubuffet. Limited to 500 copies on Arches paper, this one with a dedication to the writer and member of the college of pataphysics Maurice Saillet.
• Dubuffet (Jean). L’Hourloupe. Gouaches. Paris, Galerie Claude Bernard, 1964, small in-4, publisher's binding. Catalogue publisehd for the exhibition of gouaches by Dubuffet at the Gallery Claude Bernard in december 1964. Text by Hubert Damisch.
• Dubuffet (Jean). Parade Funèbre pour Charles Estienne. Paris, Jeanne Bucher, 1967, in-4, illustrated cover. Édition with black and white illustrations by Dubuffet. Limited to 450 copies.
• Dubuffet (Jean). La Botte à Nique. Genève, Albert Skira, Les Sentiers de la Création, 1973, in-8, in leaves, illustrated cover, publisher's folder and case . First edition originale with numerous illustrations in colors by Dubuffet. One of the 165 copies on "Arches à la cuve" paper, mumbered and signed by the artist, including a serigraph in colors separately presented.
  

Comte de Gobineau : wachful eye of his time

Remarkable man by his abundant literary production, Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882) entered in politics with the support of Alexis de Tocqueville who made him Chief of Staff to the Foreign Ministry. He eventually led a diplomatic career posted to Persia, Greece, Brazil and Sweden. Gobineau wrote many poems, articles, novels, short stories. He attracted the admiration of some contemporaries, notably Richard Wagner. But public recognition did not come. it's his Essay on the Inequality of Human Races which brought him posthumous fame. European Racist movements from the late nineteenth century seized the book and borrow away a large part of Gobineau's ideology who is marked, de facto, as one of the founding fathers of racial thinking. That tarnishes the reputation of his work which is, however, rather diversified. More than a historian, Gobineau has emerged as a lyric writer and a romantic, close to Stendhal or Mérimée.

Currently, la librairie Loliée offers :

• Gobineau (Comte de). Céphanolie, Naxie et Terre-neuve. Souvenirs de voyage. Le Mouchoir rouge - Akrivie Phrangopoulo - La Chasse au caribou. Paris, Plon, 1897, in-12, original covers and back, binding (Vermorel). First edition.
• Gobineau (Comte de). Essai sur l’Inégalité des races humaines. Paris, Firmin-Didot et Cie, 1884, 2 volumes in-12, binding. Second edition.
• [Gobineau (Comte de)] - Dreyfus (Robert). La Vie et les Prophéties du Comte de Gobineau. Paris, Cahier de la Quinzaine, Seizième cahier de la sixième série, 1905, in-12, bradel bradel. Copy with a dedicace from the author to Marcel Bontemps.
• Gobineau (Comte de). La Fleur d’or. Paris, Grasset, « Les Cahiers Verts », 1923, in-12. Copy on vergé bouffant paper.

Olvier Debré signs

Figure of abstract painting, Olivier Debré (1920-1999) studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.He joined the architectural studio ran by his uncle and attended the one of Le Corbusier. He made his first paintings around 1943, influenced by Picasso. After the war, he met with the avant-garde : Serge Poliakoff, Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Soulages. His work, still then figurative, slided towards abstract art, based on the construction of tint colored areas. Strongly inspired by nature (storms, typhoons), the artist's approach is to materialize, eliminating any realistic depiction, the feelings of these violent events: "I refrains from being called a landscaper. I translate the emotion which is in me in front of a landscape ... It is not my will acting but the emotion that dominates me. I am only sincere in the shock, the momentum." Besides painting, Olivier Debré is passionate for architecture. He create, among others, the stage curtains of the Comédie Française, the Hong Kong Opera and the Shanghai Opera. He collaborated with choreographer Carolyn Carlson for whom he designed the sets and costumes for the ballet "Signs" whose theme is inspired by his painting.
(sources : Evene, Wikipedia)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Debré (Olivier) - Jamme (Franck André). Pour les Simples. Illustrations by Olivier Debré. Montpellier, Fata Morgana, 1987, in-8, in leaves, cover. First edition. One of the 50 first copies on Arches paper with two original engravings signed by Olivier Debré.
• Debré (Olivier) - Marester (Guy). Une Nuit qui n’aura pas de fin. Encres de Olivier Debré. Paris, Bernard Dumerchez, 2005, in-8 carré, ein leaves, cover. First edition with 7 inks by Olivier Debré. One of the first 75 copies on Arches paper.

Zürn / Bellmer : Dark Spring

Compagnion of Hans Bellmer, Unica Zürn, born in Berlin in 1916, had with the surrealist artist met in 1959, a stormy relationship marked with various interments in psychiatric clinics. It's from Bellmer's flat that Unica jumped out of the window in 1970. Fragile, Unica Zürn described her childhood as wonderful. This period was nevertheless marked by the divorce of her parents, and the loss of the family home, where his father, writer, used to collect objects brought back from his travels. "Dark Spring is the story of her childhood's impressions pushed up to their tragic consequences. Between a father beloved but distant and a hated mother, the little girl will learn about the adult world, and will discover an horrifying and fascinating sexuality, a crazy love which will lead her to suicide "(biography from Belfond publisher -1971).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• [Bellmer (Hans)] - Zürn (Unica). Sombre Printemps. Traduit de l’allemand par Ruth Henry et Robert Valançay. Burin original de Hans Bellmer. Paris, Pierre Belfond, collection des « Cahiers du regard », 1970, in-folio, in leaves, publisher's case. First french edition with, on frontispiece, an original engraving by Bellmer, numbered and signed. Limited 170 copies on Arches paper, this one compelted with a suite of the engraving on Japan paer, numbered and signed.
  
• [Bellmer (Hans)] - Zürn (Unica). Sombre Printemps. Traduit de l’allemand par Ruth Henry et Robert Valançay. Paris, Belfont, « Cahiers du Regard », 1971, thin in-8. First french edition with, on frontispiece, a reproduction of Bellmer's engraving.
  

Mucha's arabesques

Slavic, Alfons Mucha (1860-1939) was formed in Vienna and Munich before settling in Paris where he made his name by making illustrations in magazines, newspapers and books. Sarah Bernhardt, seduced by his style, ensured the reputation of the artist from 1894 to 1900 : Mucha became the sole creator of her posters. With an important production (drawings, pastels, sculptures, objects, jewelry), Mucha established himself as one the masters of Art Nouveau. In 1900, he created a spectacular setting for the Universal Exhibition. He decorated the Bosnia and Herzegovina pavilion and got the silver medal. He went on with his illustrator activities and signed the poster advertisements for brands such as Moët et Chandon or Nestlé. Between 1912 and 1926, Mucha put his skills to serve a monumental project to the glory of the Slavic people. Believer and humanist, Mucha thought that art can participate in the uplifting of the soul. He raised money from wealthy American industrialists and got a particular support from Charles R. Crane who invested in The Slav Epic, composed of 20 scenes covering nearly 1,000 square feet of painted canvas. This gigantic work provides an important evidence about the rise of Nationalism in Europe. Settled in Czechoslovakia in 1910, Mucha took part in the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. He drew the weapon of the new nation, stamps, banknotes. In 1939, the country is occupied by Germany and the Republic ends. Mucha, a Freemason, is interrogated by the Gestapo. He died shortly thereafter in July of that year. After the war, forgotten by the communists who do not appreciate this "bourgeois art" , Mucha's work is finally rediscovered in the 60s.

Published in 1900, Clôches de Noël et de Pâques (Bells of Christmas and Easter), collection of three tales by Emile Gebhart, is representative of the art of arabesque of Mucha who frames the text of many floral ornaments.
(sources : Wikipedia, Mucha museum)

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers :

• Mucha (Alphonse) - Gebhart (Émile). Cloches de Noël et de Pâques. Illustrations et décoration par A. Mucha. Paris, Champenois, Piazza, 1900, in-4, publisher's green case . Edition illustrated with 80 colored plates by Mucha. Limited to 252 copies. One of the 35 copies on Japan paper, with a suite in black on China paper of the 80 plates.

The Monk by Lewis : a major literary influence of Surrealism

Classic from Gothic literature, The Monk is an early work, written by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775 - 1818) originally to entertain his mother. It was published for the first time in 1796. The book, subversive by its themes (incest, kidnapping, torture, pacts with the devil, necrophilia, exorcism...) but also conventional by its morality, is very well received by the public to the point that the author earned the nickname "Monk Lewis." But, the criticism was outraged by the story and launched censure. So much so that Lewis published a second expurgated edition in which he withdrew the most scandalous part - when Antonia's mother offers her daughter a truncated version of the Bible to protect her from verses she considered unhealthy.
In the nineteenth century, The Monk influenced French writers including the young guard of Romanticism. In the twentieth century, in his Surrealist Manifesto, André Breton, makes of The Monk a literary model, with Les Chants de Maldoror, of the movement. In 1931, Antonin Artaud proposes a new approach, The Monk by Lewis told by Antonin Artaud published by Denoël & Steele. In the preface, he writes :
"That, therefore, all those whose spirit of new data flows back to the closed and purely organic senses as to their droppings, those who feed on the common residue and the usual excrement of the mind called reality, I continue to hold as an essential work The Monk, which shakes this reality at full arms, drags in front of me witches, apparitions and larvae, with the most perfect natural, and which finally makes supernatural a simple reality.(Photo: Matthew Gregory Lewis by Henry William Pickersgill - National Portrait Gallery, London - source: wikipedia).

Currently, the librairie Loliée offers the rare first French edition :

• Lewis (M.G.). Le Moine. Paris, Maradan, an V (1797), 3 volumes in-12, green binding from the period. First French edition before the one published by Maradan the same year in 4 volumes.