MALLARMÉ (Stéphane). - Lot 196

MALLARMÉ (Stéphane). Pages. Bruxelles, Edmond Deman, 1891. Large in-8, paperback, old red morocco spine folder and slipcase (Devauchelle). Partly original edition, with a beautiful etching by Auguste Renoir on the frontispiece. This etching was one of the first by Renoir, who was not very fond of this mode of expression (cf. François Chapon, Le Peintre et le livre, p. 25). Mallarmé had planned a richly illustrated book, originally entitled Le Tiroir de laque, and had chosen his illustrators admirably: J.-L. Brown, Degas, Renoir, Berthe Morisot and perhaps Monet. Brown was to do the cover, "after one of the most beautiful people in Paris", Degas probably a dancer, to illustrate the ballet pages (but we have nothing precise), Berthe Morisot "Le Nénuphar blanc" and Monet "La Gloire". All but Renoir finally declined, after more or less extensive attempts: a fine etching of an opulent nude with flowing hair evokes "Le Phénomène futur" in the frontispiece (cf. Mallarmé, Correspondance, 1969, t. III, p. 10). One of 50 copies on japon, the only ones to contain Renoir's frontispiece in double state.