Les Dentelles de Montmirail
Les Dentelles de Montmirail is one of the characteristic small masterpieces born of the collaboration between René Char and PAB. It was published in 1960 between L’Isle-sur-Sorgue and Alès, two places that immediately evoke the geography of Char and that of Pierre André Benoit. The edition joins Char’s brief, aphoristic lyric voice to five natural impressions from Montmirail, so that text and matter quite literally meet. With PAB, poetry often takes on an intimate, almost handmade form, and that quality is especially palpable here. The limited issue on Arches heightens the book’s discreet yet unmistakable bibliophile character. This copy gains further importance from the autograph inscription to Dr Marcel Zara, far more than a routine dedication and almost readable as a small autonomous poem. For collectors, it is an exemplary PAB production in which landscape, trace, inscription, and poem become a single object.
Quantity
Char, Rene
Pierre Andre Benoit (PAB)
Les Dentelles de Montmirail
1960 | L'Isle-sur-Sorgue et Alès | Éditions PAB
A highly characteristic Char-PAB book in which landscape, imprint, and poetic concentration coincide perfectly. The inscription to Dr Marcel Zara raises this copy still further, giving it personal, intellectual, and almost autonomous literary value.
Les Dentelles de Montmirail is one of the characteristic small masterpieces born of the collaboration between René Char and PAB. It was published in 1960 between L’Isle-sur-Sorgue and Alès, two places that immediately evoke the geography of Char and that of Pierre André Benoit. The edition joins Char’s brief, aphoristic lyric voice to five natural impressions from Montmirail, so that text and matter quite literally meet. With PAB, poetry often takes on an intimate, almost handmade form, and that quality is especially palpable here. The limited issue on Arches heightens the book’s discreet yet unmistakable bibliophile character. This copy gains further importance from the autograph inscription to Dr Marcel Zara, far more than a routine dedication and almost readable as a small autonomous poem. For collectors, it is an exemplary PAB production in which landscape, trace, inscription, and poem become a single object.
€2,250
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-4 (Quarto) approx. 25 × 32 cm
Edition Particulars
One of the 50 copies on Arches, with an important autograph inscription to Dr Marcel Zara.
Print Run
50
Copy Number
No. 17
Paper
Arches
Inscription
Envoi
Product DETAIL
The work consists of a short sequence of poetic texts by René Char centred on the Dentelles de Montmirail, the jagged Provençal mountain range. Rather than a continuous narrative, the book is built from concentrated notations, images, and incantatory formulations. The place itself stands at the centre: stone, relief, light, wind, and trace are transformed by Char into a language of observation and animation. The five natural impressions strengthen that bond with the concrete world and make the landscape not only a subject but a physical presence within the book. The reader therefore moves not through a plot, but through a series of highly condensed encounters between word and terrain. In that sense, this is a topographical and lyrical meditation in which natural form and poetic form sharpen one another. Its atmosphere is lucid, tense, and mineral, typical of Char’s later poetic concentration.
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.
Illustrated Book
€1,460
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.
Illustrated Book
€920
When a Signature Becomes Provenance
A signature confirms; a dedication connects; an association copy tells a story.
The Fragile Meaning of ‘Complet’
In auction descriptions, “complete” often sounds reassuring — but it is only meaningful when verified against the colophon, the justification, and the bibliography. For The Hidden Page, clarity begins where vague market language ends.
The Avant-Garde and the Illustrated Word
How the Twentieth Century Recast the Book as an Artistic and Ideological Medium