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Hardcover, 28.3 x 22.5 cm, two volumes bound in one in full navy crushed morocco by Zaehnsdorf for E. Joseph (signed), border fillet and red and gilt lettering to front, spine with raised bands outlined in gilt, red and gilt lettering in compartments, gilt dentelle, blue moire endpapers, all margins gilt; one of the original wrappers preserved, 14 tissue-guarded colour woodcuts after Alastair; text in black with red titles and initials (hand-set type), and the illustrations printed on watermarked ‘Moirans’ laid paper. Title-page (red and black): Les Liaisons Dangereuses | by | CHODERLOS DE LACLOS | With Illustrations | by | ALASTAIR | THE BLACK SUN PRESS | DEUX RUE CARDINALE | PARIS | MCMXXIX || Limitation: a print run of 1020 copies: 15 on Japon, 1000 on Moirans and 5 NFS; this is copy № 143 (vol. 1) and 303 (vol. 2) Contributors: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (French, 1741 – 1803) – author. Ernest Christopher Dowson (British, 1867 – 1900) – translator. Alastair [Hans-Henning Baron von Voigt] (German, 1887 – 1969) – artist. Comte Ulric de Civry (French, 1853 – 1935) – dedicatee. Black Sun Press (1927 – 1970) – publishing company. Harry Crosby (American, 1898 – 1929) – publisher. Caresse Crosby [Mary Phelps Jacob] (American, 1892 – 1970) – publisher. Joseph William Zaehnsdorf (Austrian, 1853 – 1930) – bookbinder. -
Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Enshūya Matabei (遠州屋又兵衛) (c. 1768 – 1881), seal name: Enmata [ 遠又]. Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国画]. Date-aratame censor seal: 未改, Bunsei 6 (1823). Size: uchiwa-e; 233 x 262 mm. Ref: Israel Goldman. Japanese Prints, Paintings and Books / Catalogue 28, 2022: № 14. -
Title: Early Spring [初春之図] (Hatsuharu no zu); Series: Fashionable Twelve Months [今様十二ヶ月] (Imayo juni-kagetsu). Another version of translation: Modern Beauties of Twelve Months. Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), seal: Dansendō [伊場仙]. Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国画] and sealed with toshidama. Date-kiwame seal: Ushi (ox), Bunsei 5 (1822). Size: double-sheet uncut fan print ( aiban uchiwa-e), each 217 x 288 mm. Ref: Tokyo Museum Collection.
Other five prints of this series: SVJP 0326.2020; SVJP-0362.2022; SVJP-0363.2022; SVJP-0364.2022; SVJP-0365.2022.
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Title: Fourth lunar month [卯月] (Uzuki no zu); Series: Fashionable Twelve Months (Imayo juni-kagetsu). Another version of translation: Modern Beauties of Twelve Months. Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), seal: Dansendō [伊場仙]. Signed: Toyokuni ga and sealed with toshidama. Date-kiwame seal: Ushi (ox), Bunsei 5 (1822). Size: double-sheet uncut fan print ( aiban uchiwa-e), 219 x 295 mm.
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Title: L'ADAM | LASCIF | OU | LETTRES A LA MARQUISE |{fleuron}| AVEC | des figures finement gravées | pour animer par ces billets | fort galamment troussés | AU CARQUOIS D’ARGENT || Edition: Limited numbered edition of 252 copies, artist’s copy on Marais paper with watermark, final state. Pagination: [2] blanks, [2] h.t./tirage, [2] blank / exemplaire, [2] t.p. / blank, i-iii [iv], f.t. / blank; 13-183 [184] [2] blanks, [2] ex-libris / blank; frontispiece, 9 vignettes and 9 plates by Gaston Barret, dry point, sanguine; woodcut vignettes at the faux-title of each chapter. Binding: Unbound, in publisher's blue velour paper folder with gilt device to front cover, original wrappers with blue silhouette and grey medallions, in publisher's grey slipcase. Ref: (1) Jean-Pierre Dutel, Bibliographie des ouvrages érotiques publiés clandestinement en français entre 1920 et 1970, № 951, Inconnu à Pia. (2) Curiosa: An exhibition of illustrated erotic books 1987 — London: Hobart & Maclean, 1987, № 8. (3) Honesterotica (793). Note: Most sources reference black prints, not sanguine. The publishing year was established by Jean-Pierre Dutel; in any case, it was published before the jury hearings at Cour d'Assises in Paris on May 29, 1956. The fact of hearings was not independently confirmed. -
Softcover, 242 x 165 mm, French flapped wrappers with black and red lettering to front and spine, top edge trimmed, pages uncut, printed on wove paper watermarked BFK Rives in italic script; illustrations in colour. Title: JEAN DE LA FONTAINE | LES AMOURS | DE | PSYCHÉ ET DE CUPIDON | ÉDITION CONFORME AUX TEXTES ORIGINAUX | ÉTABLIE PAR | LOUIS PERCEAU | ET ORNÉE D’ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS | PAR | CARLÈGLE | LE LIVRE DU BIBLIOPHILE | GEORGES BRIFFAUT, ÉDITEUR | 4, RUE DE FURSTENBERG, PARIS | 1932 || Limited edition: 1230 copies of which this ic copy № 247. Collated 8vo: π4 1-24 3-48 58 *58 6-168 χ2, total 134 leaves, incl. frontispiece. Pagination: [8] 1-253 [254] [6]. Colophon: Le volume des Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon de La Fontaine a été achevé d'imprimer le quinze juin mil neuf cent trente-deux sur les presses du maitre imprimeur Coulouma, a Argenteul, H. Barthélemy étant directeur. Coloris de E. Charpentier, Paris.
