Il est toujours trop tard. 1924-1928
This Antwerp publication by La Serfouette (1969) forms an unusually complete set as a “Réunion des 2 tirages” of *Il est toujours trop tard. 1924-1928*. It brings together two issues: an ‘ordinary’ issue in stiff orange paper wrappers and the deluxe issue with Roger van de Wouwer’s graphics. A telling peculiarity: the ordinary issue’s title page also states “Dix Gravures de Roger van de Wouwer”, yet the plates are in fact absent—functioning essentially as a textual ‘copy’ of the deluxe issue. The deluxe issue, by contrast, is complete and accompanied by a “suite de 10 eaux-fortes originales (avec cuvette)”: ten large black etchings, all signed and justified. The ordinary issue is further enriched with an important “envoi autographe signé à Jeanne Abraham et André Stas (note sur la priorité de parution)”, in which Scutenaire insists that this second edition is “in reality, the original” because it appeared weeks, if not months, before the illustrated issue. Together, the two volumes document textual history, bibliophile strategy, and the paradox of publication priority within Antwerp surrealism.
Quantity
Scutenaire, Louis
van de Wouwer, Roger
Il est toujours trop tard. 1924-1928
1969 | Antwerpen | La Serfouette
Rare as a complete “Réunion des 2 tirages”: an ordinary issue claiming the plates without them, plus No. 79/150 on Arches with the full plate-marked suite.
This Antwerp publication by La Serfouette (1969) forms an unusually complete set as a “Réunion des 2 tirages” of *Il est toujours trop tard. 1924-1928*. It brings together two issues: an ‘ordinary’ issue in stiff orange paper wrappers and the deluxe issue with Roger van de Wouwer’s graphics. A telling peculiarity: the ordinary issue’s title page also states “Dix Gravures de Roger van de Wouwer”, yet the plates are in fact absent—functioning essentially as a textual ‘copy’ of the deluxe issue. The deluxe issue, by contrast, is complete and accompanied by a “suite de 10 eaux-fortes originales (avec cuvette)”: ten large black etchings, all signed and justified. The ordinary issue is further enriched with an important “envoi autographe signé à Jeanne Abraham et André Stas (note sur la priorité de parution)”, in which Scutenaire insists that this second edition is “in reality, the original” because it appeared weeks, if not months, before the illustrated issue. Together, the two volumes document textual history, bibliophile strategy, and the paradox of publication priority within Antwerp surrealism.
€950
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-folio (Folio) approx. 30 × 40 cm
Edition Particulars
“Réunion des 2 tirages” + ordinary issue on stiff orange paper: title page states “Dix Gravures de Roger van de Wouwer” but plates are absent; “Exemplaire 79/150 sur vélin d’Arches” + “suite de 10 eaux-fortes originales (avec cuvette)” (all signed and justified) + “envoi autographe signé à Jeanne Abraham et André Stas (note sur la priorité de parution)”.
Print Run
150
Copy Number
No. 79
Paper
Vélin d’Arches
Inscription
Envoi,Signed by the Illustrator
Product DETAIL
The volume gathers Scutenaire’s brief early texts from 1924–1928, where razor-edged aphorism and dry paradox meet. The voice is anti-rhetorical: a clear, often biting minimalism that tilts the everyday toward the absurd. The two issues offer two experiences: ‘naked’ text (the ordinary issue) and text in dialogue with printmaking (the deluxe issue). Notably, the ordinary issue’s title page still reads “Dix Gravures de Roger van de Wouwer”, although the plates are not present. In the illustrated issue, ten large black etchings answer the text with restrained, charged imagery. The set thus becomes a double portrait of the same corpus: reading book and book-object.
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