Coordonnées
A fine collaboration between Guillevic’s pared-down poetry and Fernand Léger’s forceful line. In Coordonnées, the world is reduced to axes, signs and bearings—a spare cartography that still sings. Léger accompanies the poems with roughly twenty monochrome drawings that open space and set the rhythm. Issued in 1948 by Éditions des Trois Collines in the « Le Point d’Or » series, the book appears as a large-octavo in wrappers. The copy described belongs to the exceptionally scarce set of ten hors commerce, printed for Jacques Descoullayes. For bibliophiles, it captures post-war modernism at a lucid pitch: clarity, economy, and exemplary layout on vélin.
Quantity
Guillevic, Eugène
Fernand Léger
Coordonnées
1948 | Genève | Éditions des Trois Collines
An exemplary modern book where word and line align; this very scarce HC copy is a poised benchmark for collectors.
A fine collaboration between Guillevic’s pared-down poetry and Fernand Léger’s forceful line. In Coordonnées, the world is reduced to axes, signs and bearings—a spare cartography that still sings. Léger accompanies the poems with roughly twenty monochrome drawings that open space and set the rhythm. Issued in 1948 by Éditions des Trois Collines in the « Le Point d’Or » series, the book appears as a large-octavo in wrappers. The copy described belongs to the exceptionally scarce set of ten hors commerce, printed for Jacques Descoullayes. For bibliophiles, it captures post-war modernism at a lucid pitch: clarity, economy, and exemplary layout on vélin.
€500
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 10 hors commerce copies printed for Jacques Descoullayes; approx. 20–21 drawings by Léger; trade run estimated c. 1,900–2,000 on vélin.
Print Run
2000
Copy Number
14
Paper
vélin
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
Guillevic maps an imagined terrain in short poems—lines, landmarks, intersections. The language is taut and concrete; abstraction and the real interlock. Léger’s drawings appear between texts as benchmarks that structure the page. The book reads like an atlas of nearness and distance. Its composition maintains a calm progression with reprises and variations.
Michaux, Henri · Bettencourt, Pierre
Arriver à se réveiller
A rare first edition of Arriver à se réveiller, written by Henri Michaux in the tremulous post-war years. The text unfolds as an inward journey toward lucidity, where sleep and waking mirror each other. Printed and published by Pierre Bettencourt in his own workshop, the edition’s small run preserves the work’s intimacy. The title-page vignette, a linocut by Bettencourt, sets a spare, rhythmic visual key that amplifies Michaux’s vigilant, vulnerable tone. This copy is handsomely bound in brown morocco with balsa boards by Miguet, a tactile nod to lightness under tension. For bibliophiles, it is an exemplary union of poetry, craft, and experiment. The volume embodies the independence of the post-war small press and Michaux’s radical sensitivity.
Illustrated Book
€680
Éluard, Paul
Au rendez-vous allemand
Au rendez-vous allemand is one of the emblematic collections of Éluard’s wartime poetry. The book appeared in 1944 from Les Éditions de Minuit, the publishing house that, under the Occupation, became a moral landmark of the French literary Resistance. The volume gathers poems in which love, mourning, revolt and hope appear not as abstractions but as immediate necessities under German rule. The frontispiece, a portrait of the poet after Picasso, gives the book a powerful artistic signature: two voices of modern France, poet and artist, stand here in the same struggle. This is an ordinary, unnumbered copy, but signed by Éluard on the first page. That signature makes the book more than a Resistance document: it becomes a tangible witness to literary presence in a historically charged year. For the collector, it unites the clandestine aura of Minuit, Picasso’s name and Éluard’s own hand.
Illustrated Book
€350
Derain, André
Amis & Amille. Mystère du XIVe siècle.
This sumptuously bound book brings a medieval mystery to life through a rare collaboration between ancient literature and modern illustration. The geometric box design on garnet morocco provides striking contrast. André Derain’s 22 color lithographs – including one double and three full-page – enhance the narrative with expressive visual force. Printed on Rives vellum in an edition of 180 numbered copies, this copy (No. 72) was made for Baroness Vaxelaire and includes a suite on fine Japanese paper. The binding by Lucie Weill exemplifies artisanal excellence. A harmonious blend of narrative tradition and graphic daring.
