Moulin Rouge

SIGNED FIRST US EDITION. La Mure's celebrated biographical novel recreates the life of the French Post-Impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, tracing his rise from an aristocratic childhood overshadowed by physical disability to his immersion in the vibrant nightlife of fin-de-siècle Montmartre. French writer Pierre La Mure was living in the US, writing for French publications when WWII broke out. Unable to return to France, he came to teach himself English in order to maintain his career; this was his first novel in his adopted language. “Mr. La Mure presents a vivid and full-bodied picture of the uninhibited Parisian life of the eighties and nineties, people by a host of characters, among whom appear such as famous persons as Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Debussy, Edgar Degas, [.] Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt [.]—all of whom were Lautrec’s friends and part of his world.” Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001), while a different story, draws heavily on the mythology of fin-de-siècle Montmartre that Toulouse-Lautrec helped create. Lautrec himself appears as a supporting character in the film, played by John Leguizamo. However, the book was made into the famous 1952 film of the same name, starring José Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor, directed by John Huston. Uncommon in such smart condition, and signed. BOOK: Publisher’s blue cloth boards, multi-coloured lettering to spine, red stamp of Toulouse-Lautrec monogram to front cover; a little spotted to front panel, faded to extremities, top-stain faded, internally fine. DUST JACKET: Clipped dust jacket worn to spine ends and corners, small point of loss to bottom of back cover at spine; vibrant overall.…