Sur Picasso
An exceptional author’s mock-up of *Sur Picasso*, Ponge’s sharp yet playful homage to the painter. This is the offprint used as a prepublication trial for the *Nouvelle Revue Française* (no. 258, June 1974), heavily marked by Ponge with layout and typographic instructions. The piece displays his hallmark prose-poetry—precise, material, rhythmically lucid. It opens a window onto the making of the text, where words and page are still in flux. Inscribed to his friend Marcel Arland, a central figure at the NRF, it unites literary substance with process and distinguished provenance.
Quantity
Ponge, Francis
Sur Picasso
1974 | Paris
A unique document uniting text, correction and friendship—a choice piece for Ponge/NRF collections.
An exceptional author’s mock-up of *Sur Picasso*, Ponge’s sharp yet playful homage to the painter. This is the offprint used as a prepublication trial for the *Nouvelle Revue Française* (no. 258, June 1974), heavily marked by Ponge with layout and typographic instructions. The piece displays his hallmark prose-poetry—precise, material, rhythmically lucid. It opens a window onto the making of the text, where words and page are still in flux. Inscribed to his friend Marcel Arland, a central figure at the NRF, it unites literary substance with process and distinguished provenance.
€970
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-4 (Quarto) approx. 25 × 32 cm
Edition Particulars
Author-corrected mock-up, preparatory to publication in *NRF*, no. 258 (June 1974); inscribed to Marcel Arland.
Inscription
Envoi
Product DETAIL
Ponge approaches Picasso not as an art historian but through language: naming gestures, matter and energy in sentences that move like brushstrokes. The text places the painter at the century’s dawn and reflects on name, fame and metamorphosis. Compact yet dense, the essay stays meditative, ironic and exact. The pencilled marks reveal how rhythm, size and white space shape meaning. Overall, a critical and lyrical meditation on creation and looking.
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
Waldberg, Patrick · Ernst, Max
Aux Petits Agneaux
A artist’s book resulting from the collaboration between writer Patrick Waldberg and surrealist master Max Ernst. This first edition includes 19 original lithographs printed on luxurious vélin d'Arches. Published in Paris in 1971 in a limited edition of 174 copies signed by both author and artist, and presented in a custom publisher’s box.
Illustrated Book
€2,200
Ribemont-Dessaignes, Georges
Ariane
A remarkable copy of *Ariane*, published in the *Les Cahiers Nouveaux* series, inscribed with a poetic and enigmatic message by Ribemont-Dessaignes to Jacques Matarasso. This deluxe Japan paper edition was elegantly rebound in 1994 by Georges Leroux, in a restrained style that echoes the work’s Dadaist spirit.
Book
€1,100
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
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