Crime à San-Francisco
*Crime à San-Francisco* brings together Durtain’s modern urban narrative and eight original lithographs by Georges Annenkoff. The novella follows the moral and social unravelling of a young bank clerk in 1920s San Francisco. Annenkoff gives the American metropolis a nervous, angular and psychologically charged visual language. Au Sans Pareil published this first edition in 1927 in a carefully tiered bibliophile issue. Copy no. 25 is one of twenty copies on Japon accompanied by a double suite. When complete, this state contains eight lithographs in the book and sixteen additional suite impressions. Its combination of luxury paper, original printmaking and extremely small limitation makes it a particularly desirable artist’s book.
Quantity
Durtain, Luc
Annenkoff, Georges (Yuri)
Crime à San-Francisco
1927 | Paris | Au Sans Pareil
One of twenty copies on Japon illustrated by a key figure of the Russian avant-garde. Text, image, luxury paper and an exceptionally restricted limitation form a particularly compelling whole.
*Crime à San-Francisco* brings together Durtain’s modern urban narrative and eight original lithographs by Georges Annenkoff. The novella follows the moral and social unravelling of a young bank clerk in 1920s San Francisco. Annenkoff gives the American metropolis a nervous, angular and psychologically charged visual language. Au Sans Pareil published this first edition in 1927 in a carefully tiered bibliophile issue. Copy no. 25 is one of twenty copies on Japon accompanied by a double suite. When complete, this state contains eight lithographs in the book and sixteen additional suite impressions. Its combination of luxury paper, original printmaking and extremely small limitation makes it a particularly desirable artist’s book.
€680
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-12 (Duodecimo) approx. 17 × 22 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 20 numbered copies on Japon with a double suite on vélin and chine.
Print Run
775
Copy Number
No. 25
Paper
Japon
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
Ralph E. Sexton is a model young bank clerk in San Francisco whose life is governed by work, money and strict Puritan morality. After meeting Dorothy Turnbridge, he explores the city with her and finds his carefully ordered existence placed under strain. Their growing intimacy leads to Ralph’s first sexual experience. Driven by guilt and a sense of duty, he then proposes marriage. Dorothy leaves, however, and Ralph loses his social bearings, gradually slipping toward the margins of society. The novella thus traces the concrete unravelling of a conformist young man under the pressure of desire, shame and social convention. Behind this story lies Durtain’s broader criticism of Puritanism, social labelling and the American cult of money.
Morand, Paul · Hugo, Jean
Les Amis nouveaux
This first separate edition of *Les Amis nouveaux* combines Paul Morand’s swift, ironic prose with nine original copper drypoints by Jean Hugo. The brief novella compresses a love triangle into the tense intimacy of a single dinner. Morand’s controlled dialogue and incisive observations reveal how rivalry can unexpectedly turn into mutual understanding. Hugo accompanies the text with a refined linear vocabulary that heightens its worldly lightness and psychological ambiguity. The bistre or sanguine tones give the prints a warm, almost intimate presence on the page. As a numbered large-paper copy on vergé d’Arches, the book has considerable bibliophilic appeal.
Illustrated Book
€260
Soupault, Philippe
Aquarium
Aquarium by Philippe Soupault, published in 1917, is the literary debut of one of the most influential figures of the twentieth-century French avant-garde. The work was published by the young publishing house Au Sans Pareil, which would play a key role in the publication of the Dadaist and Surrealist movements in the years to come. The book is a collection of short poetic prose texts that explore an urban landscape and the interiority of modern man. This is a rare, early edition that not only marks Soupault's literary start but also the birth of an important publishing platform for the avant-garde. It is a tangible document of the period of artistic renewal that led to Surrealism. The form and concept of the publication reflect an experimental approach, typical of the radical artistic movements of the time.
Illustrated Book
€950
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
Char, Rene · Stael, Nicolas de
Arrière-histoire du poème pulvérisé
*Arrière-histoire du poème pulvérisé* is a later illustrated edition of a key text in which René Char looks back on the genesis and inner background of *Le Poème pulvérisé*. Published in 1972 by Imprimerie Union, it opens with a colour frontispiece by Nicolas de Staël. The pairing of Char and de Staël is especially charged: two post-war voices, each seeking concentration, clarity, and rupture in his own medium. This copy is one of only six hors commerce copies on Arches and is signed. The autograph presentation inscription to Doctor Marcel Zara, with poetic quotation and October 1972 dating, makes it a deeply personal copy.
