Apollinaire (Guillaume) - Lot 60

Lot 60
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Estimation :
55000 - 75000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 66 979EUR
Apollinaire (Guillaume) - Lot 60
Apollinaire (Guillaume) Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d'Orphée. Illustrated with woodcuts by Raoul Dufy. Deplanche, Paris, 1911. First edition printed at 91 copies on hollande and 29 on japon (33.8 x 26 cm). Signed binding by Pierre Legrain, circa 1920: Ivy-green morocco spine and bands, mottled blond snakewood boards featuring the accordion-like title on the first board, in mosaic capitals of black calf with cold squaring, green morocco borders adorned with black calf half-discs and triangles thinned with palladium forming a broken line; smooth spine, double fillets and titling in palladium; inner frame in the same morocco with snake return, borders in palladium half-discs; silver moiré reps lining and endpapers; double endpapers in gold, silver and green vat paper. Preserved parchment covers and spines, later chemise-étui, green half-maroquin with flaps, bordered slipcase, black suede lining, identical titling. Sumptuous binding by Pierre Legrain for a unique copy, the only one known enriched with Dufy's original drawings for the work: 8 projects, including an extraordinary Orpheus and 3 unpublished studies for animals that were ultimately excluded from the final bestiary, with 8 extremely rare state proofs, including 3 for rejected woodcuts, and 6 chine proofs of the woodcuts for the Supplément, which was not published until 1931. This binding does not appear in the corpus of Legrain bindings published by the Blaizot bookshop (1965). Of the three bindings listed for this title (apart from one for the proofs currently in the Bibliothèque Littéraire Jacques Doucet), only one is clearly attributable to Legrain, since two of them were completed after his death. Another binding appeared in the Bibliothèque Denise Weil-Scheler sale (Drouot / Ader-Picard-Tajan, May 31, 1989, no. 52), but it appears to be identical to one of the two posthumous bindings. It covers copy no. 20, whereas the posthumous binding is listed for copy no. 25 in the Blaizot repertory; this raises the question of whether it is not the same one, with an error in the copy number. Generally speaking, we know of only one earlier decorated binding of this work, made for Camille Bloch by André Mare in 1919 (collection of Dr. Rodolfo Molo). The copy (no. 96) is also complete with the rare prospectus "En souscription pour paraître le 1er novembre 1910-1911" and subscription form, mounted at the head of the volume. Details of original documents: - A state proof on chine of the title vignette La Licorne (13 x 11.4 cm). - Original drawing of the first full-page woodcut Orphée (28 x 22 cm), Indian ink and brush with graphite frame. - A state proof of the first full-page woodcut Orphée, on chine. - Original drawing of La Tortue (27 x 20 cm), graphite with pencil titling. - A third state proof on chine of Le Cheval (33 x 24.5 cm). - A proof of a rejected woodcut of Le Chat on chine (17.5 x 16.7 cm, with inking defect). - Original drawing of the Cat for the previous rejected variant (19.6 x 20.5 cm), brush pen and India ink, with remarks (cat sketches) in pencil. - A proof of a rejected woodcut of the Hare on chine (33.2 x 25 cm). - Moose drawing (1st draft) of the final cul-de-lampe (25.5 x 188.8 cm). - A state proof of the Sirens on chine, with wide margins (folded, 33 x 30.3 cm). - A scratched proof of Le Hibou on plain paper, slightly yellowed (32.6 x 24.5 cm). - A proof of a rejected woodcut of the Ox on satin-finish paper, with border added in pencil (20 x 19 cm), with a few words in brown ink on verso. - Original drawing (1st draft) of Le Bœuf (24 x 19 cm), graphite on satin paper, titled in pencil. - Two original drawings for L'Âne, a figure not included in the book, on the front and back of the same sheet (29 x 19 cm), graphite. - Original drawing for La Raie, figure not included in the book (26.6 x 20 cm), graphite, pencil titling. At the end of the volume, six proofs for the Supplément to be published in 1931 by Pierre Bellanger, but which were printed during the preparation of the book at the same time as the other woodcuts: - A proof of the rejected woodcut for Le Morpion sur chine (32.7 x 25 cm). - A proof of the rejected wood for Le Condor on chine (32.8 x 24.8 cm). - One proof of the three in-text woodcuts (entablature, vignette, lettering) on chine (32.9 x 25 cm). Although Picasso is said to have begun plans for an illustrated bestiary as early as 1906, it was to Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) that Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) turned for his second book, published two years after L'Enchanteur pourrissant. The poet conceived his octosyllabic quatrains, each enhanced by an engraving, much as in the books anchored by his father.
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