Conquerants by Malraux Andre, Signed (4 results)

Condition: Très bon état. in-12, broché, 269 pp. Edition originale. Exemplaire numéroté sur alfa et enrichi d'un envoi de l'auteur.

Editions Lidis, Imprimerie Nationale, 1960 - 1962. 7 volumes In-4 reliés plein-maroquin rouge à gros grains, dos à nerfs en coiffe et en queue, plats ornés d'un motif diagramme doré dans un encadrement estampé à froid, têtes dorées. 160 + 295 + 205 + 465 + 121 + 76 + 178 pages. Gardes de papier décorées différement à chaque volume en rapport avec le texte. Illustrées de lithographies originales en couleurs de Walter Spitzer. Exemplaire numéroté 885 sur vélin d'Arches pur chiffon filigrané André Malraux. Reliure signée de B. Roullet, relieur à Paris. Bien complet de la plaquette brochée "Journal d'une fabrication", réservée aux souscripteurs, 30 pages. Bel état.

Masson, André (illustrator). Original wrappers, as issued, in chemise and slipcase. Folio, 15-1/2 x 11 inches. 223 pp., 33 aquatint etchings printed by Roger Lacourière. From a total edition of 165, this is one of the first 25 copies, which were printed on Marais paper and include an original wash drawing. This copy contains the drawing for the frontispiece, arguably the best in the book. There are two extra suites of the illustrations, one in color on Montval, the other in black on Ingres, from a total edition of 150 copies signed on the colophon by author, illustrator, and publisher. In addition four proofs on a variant paper are specially signed by Masson. From the collection of Lawrence Saphire, with a note laid in concerning the extra plates. Reva Castleman approvingly quotes Daniel Kahnweiler, who called this "among the most beautiful books of our times". Masson's aquatints "erupt throughout the text like the flickering of film that intermittently slides off its sprockets, a fitting commentary on the literary form Malraux had devised under the influence of the Russian director Sergei Eisenstein's cinematic style" Castleman, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994. p.31, 130. This image is one of the 33 aquatints created to illustrate Les Conquerants (The Conquerors), a novel about civil unrest in China by André Malraux, first published in Paris in 1928. Swiss publisher Skira, who wanted to produce publications in "the tradition of the 'great illustrated books,'" commissioned Masson in 1947 to illustrate Andre Malraux's novel. Prior to this commission Masson had recently returned from Atelier 17 in New York after studying printmaking techniques with Stanley Hayter (Brit., 1901-1988), who originally had his studio in Paris prior to WWII. Masson's aquatints for Les Conquerants are considered to be technically complex, using gradations of only one colour along with black. The plates are larger than the format and therefore there are no platemarks. Ref: Saphire #272.

Hardcover. Condition: Wie neu. Limitierte Ausgabe. Malraux / Masson. - André Malraux. Les Conquérants. Paris, A. Skira, 1949. Fol. 222 num. S., 33 zweifarb. Radierungen von André Masson, davon 27 ganzseitig und fast immer auf Tafeln. Lose Bogen, Chemise, Opp.-Mappe und Orig.-Schuber. - Strachan, S. 338 (Masson´s illustrations are an inspired accompaniment to André Malraux´s novel about Red China. The nervous, vibrating line against the subtle aquatint colours of the background evokes the sense of tragedy in the human figures which are suggested rather than portrayed"). Rauch 134. Lang 81. Passeron 13. Monod 7694. Saphire/Cramer 27 ( With the elegant typography characteristic of Skira publications and Masson´s calligraphic line for the Chinese setting of Malraux´s novel combined with subdued but striking coloration, the edition became an imposing one"). - Eines von 125 arabisch num. Ex. auf Marais-Papier, Druckvermerk von Autor, Künstler und Verleger signiert. - Sehr gut erhaltenes Exemplar, gelegentlich Abklatsch der Radierungen. - 1 of 125 arab. num. copies, publisher´s imprint signed by the author, artist and Publisher. With 33 (27 full page) original etchings with aquatint by André Masson. Loose sheets in orig. wrappers. Text partly with faint offsetting of the graphics, otherwise excellent condition. Signatur des Verfassers.