Sainte Monique
*Sainte Monique* stands among Vollard’s most ambitious livres d’artiste and a landmark in Bonnard’s printed work. The book gathers 261 black compositions: 29 original lithographs hors texte, 17 original etchings hors texte, and 178 woodcuts in the text. A separate suite of 37 unused woodcuts on 15 leaves accompanies the copy. The lithographs and etchings were pulled on laid (vergé) paper; the edition itself on Arches wove. Unbound, large-format leaves in twin parchment chemises stress the bibliophile intent. It is a poised collaboration in which modern book design meets intimate devotion.
Quantity
Vollard, Ambroise
Bonnard, Pierre
Sainte Monique
1930 | Paris | Vollard, Ambroise
A keystone of the French livre d’artiste: rare, complete and luxurious, showcasing Bonnard’s graphic imagination. The union of three techniques, the suite and the grand presentation make the copy highly desirable. A bibliophile monument in which text and image carry equal weight.
*Sainte Monique* stands among Vollard’s most ambitious livres d’artiste and a landmark in Bonnard’s printed work. The book gathers 261 black compositions: 29 original lithographs hors texte, 17 original etchings hors texte, and 178 woodcuts in the text. A separate suite of 37 unused woodcuts on 15 leaves accompanies the copy. The lithographs and etchings were pulled on laid (vergé) paper; the edition itself on Arches wove. Unbound, large-format leaves in twin parchment chemises stress the bibliophile intent. It is a poised collaboration in which modern book design meets intimate devotion.
€2,700
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-4 (Quarto) approx. 25 × 32 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 257 copies on Arches wove; with suite of 37 unused woodcuts on 15 leaves.
Print Run
390
Copy Number
No. 251
Paper
vélin d’Arches ; vergé
Product DETAIL
Vollard’s prose conjures Saint Monica with intimate, almost domestic piety, deepened by Bonnard’s restrained monochrome vocabulary. The 29 hors-texte lithographs have a soft, grainy tactility; the 17 etchings show a sharper, linear discipline. Across the 178 in-text woodcuts, a cadence emerges that knots reading and looking together. The suite of 37 rejected or unused blocks exposes the workshop’s process. Motifs of motherhood, persistence, and inner light anchor the cycle.
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
Brillat-Savarin, Jean-Anthelme · Dufy, Raoul
Aphorismes et variétés.
An elegant *livre d’artiste* pairing Brillat-Savarin’s witty gastronomic aphorisms with twenty full-page original etchings by Raoul Dufy. Dufy’s airy, musical line lends the text a radiant cadence, turning the maxims into vignettes of conviviality and taste. Limited to 200 copies on Rives wove; this is no. 19, for the subscriber Mr Bernard-Beaumaine. Untrimmed copy with original covers and spine preserved, luxuriously rebound by F. Rousseau in 2001. Clear provenance enhances its appeal. Wrapper slightly toned; box with only the faintest rubbing. A refined encounter between culinary letters and modernist design.
Illustrated Book
€1,900
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.