Port d’eaux mortes
Port d’eaux mortes is a particularly strong encounter between Pierre Mac Orlan’s literary world and the incisive visual language of Georges Grosz. Published in 1926 by Au Sans Pareil, it belongs to an interwar catalogue marked by modernity and bibliophilic daring. Mac Orlan’s imagination of ports, marginal lives and moral twilight is here set against Grosz’s nervous, satirical and metropolitan graphic art. The eight original lithographs make the volume more than an illustrated novel: it is a fully fledged modernist artist’s book. This copy, number 615, is one of 1000 on vélin Lafuma de Voiron within a total edition of 1260 copies. For The Hidden Page, its appeal is clear: a numbered original edition with original prints by a key figure of Berlin Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit.
Quantity
Orlan, Pierre Mac
Grosz, Georges
Port d’eaux mortes
1926 | Paris | Au Sans Pareil
A strong modernist illustrated book in which Mac Orlan’s dark harbour world and Grosz’s razor-edged graphic art reinforce one another.
Port d’eaux mortes is a particularly strong encounter between Pierre Mac Orlan’s literary world and the incisive visual language of Georges Grosz. Published in 1926 by Au Sans Pareil, it belongs to an interwar catalogue marked by modernity and bibliophilic daring. Mac Orlan’s imagination of ports, marginal lives and moral twilight is here set against Grosz’s nervous, satirical and metropolitan graphic art. The eight original lithographs make the volume more than an illustrated novel: it is a fully fledged modernist artist’s book. This copy, number 615, is one of 1000 on vélin Lafuma de Voiron within a total edition of 1260 copies. For The Hidden Page, its appeal is clear: a numbered original edition with original prints by a key figure of Berlin Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit.
€320
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
Copy no. 615, one of 1000 on vélin Lafuma de Voiron, within a total edition of 1260 copies.
Print Run
1260
Copy Number
No. 615
Paper
vélin Lafuma de Voiron
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
The text belongs to the world Mac Orlan often explored: ports, journeys, marginal figures and places where adventure, boredom and danger meet. The title evokes a harbour of stagnant or dead waters, a space where movement seems suspended and moral ambiguity can take root. The action may be understood as a dark, atmospheric exploration of human destinies in a borderland between city, sea and underworld. Its figures move through desires for escape, memories of violence and fascination with the unknown. The novel fits Mac Orlan’s poetics of the social fantastic, in which the strange need not be supernatural but arises from modern places and uprooted lives. The atmosphere is misty, maritime and psychologically charged. Grosz’s lithographs intensify this world through their social sharpness and visual nervousness.
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.
