Publisher’s peach cloth box 555 x 410 mm with coloured lithograph on the lid, autographed with crayons “Le Cirque | 14 LITHOGRAPHIES | DE | {vignette} | Vertes“; in-folio unbound 4 pp. booklet on laid paper watermarked “Marais” and 14 loose leaves of plates on laid paper 520 x 395 mm without a watermark with coloured lithographs signed “Vertes” and numbered “195/250” in pencil; interleaved with tracing paper. Box and plates foxed.
Title-page (red and black): LE | CIRQUE | 14 LITHOGRAPHIES DE | VERTÈS | PRÉSENTÉ | PAR | JEAN COCTEAU ||
Imprint: LES LIVES MERVEILLEUX | MONACO | Il a été tiré de cet album : | 150 Exemplaires, | destinés à | l’Amérique, | distribués bar les soins de | Arthur H. Harlow | de New-York, | & | 100 Exemplaires, | réservés à la France. | 15 Avril 1949 ||
Limitation: Edition limited to 250 copies (150 for USA, 100 for France); this is copy № 195 printed for France as the American copies marked “Published by Arthur H. Harlow & Co., New York.
Seller’s Description: VERTÈS, Marcel (Hungarian-French, 1895-1961). Le Cirque 14 Lithographies de Vertès. Présénte par Jean Cocteau. [Monaco: Les Livres Merveilleux, 1949]. [vi] pp. With all 14 lithographs, each signed by the artist and numbered “195/250”. Text and lithographs 15 ¼ x 20 ½”. In original publisher’s peach cloth box with printed label on lid (box foxed, soiled, lightly worn; lithographs and text foxed). Still, a very good example of this lovely collection, with an introduction by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963).
Catalogue Raisonné: Vokaer № 50.
Marcel Vertès [Marcell Vértes] (Jewish-Hungarian-French, 1895 – 1961) – artist.
Arthur H. Harlow (American, c. 1877 – 1958) – publisher.
Jean Cocteau (French, 1889 – 1963) – author.
