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198pp. Same date on title and CP with no edition or printing cited: presumed first printing. Vellum spine (browned; small superficial tears at spine ends) with red title and author name lettering barely readable, publisher name in red across bottom spine, nearly unreadable); with vertical-striped covers (black alternating with red-bordered gilt stripes, gilt worn); rough-cut fore-edge and lower edge; top edge may have been stained red (smoother than other edges, now dulled red, ostensibly); thin rubbing wear on edges and more at corners; inside front hinge pastedown slit down hinge (reglued); ffep MAY be missing, else Half-Title page is ffep. Book was rebound from an ex-Libris/X-Library copy ('#1106' on bottom of ex-Libris sticker on inside front cover, with owner name rubbed out): See author's inscription on inside front cover above Ex-Libris sticker: " To Jean, this book begotten by me and promulgated by Louis--damaged, recovered and presented with cordial good wishes Jacques Leclercq". This can only be Jean STARR, who was married to Louis UNTERMEYER (1906-1926; divorced Untermeyer; remarried Untermeyer, 1929-1930), Untermeyer probably being Leclerq's editor for this book, hence "promulgated" in the inscription. From Find A Grave: " [Author:] Son of Dr. Frederic Schuman LeClercq of Paris and Margaret Hart of New York. [He was named in honor of his godfather, the French President George Clemenceau with whom his parents had close ties.] / Jacques (Jack) Georges Clemenceau LeClercq (1898-1972) married Edith Whittemore (1895-1985) of Saint Louis, Missouri on 28 Jun 1928. Their daughter was the internationally famous ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq. By 1930, Jack was a Professor at Columbia University in New York. / During WWI he had served in the US Army, and during WWII he served with the Office of War Information in New York and France. He later became professor of French Literature and Romance Languages at Queens College, a post from which he eventually retired. Scholar, author, and translator of a number of literary works, he also wrote poetry under the pen name Paul Tanaquil." Consider: ">4 WildcatJF" :"The publishing house of Macy-Masius was merged into the Vanguard Press in June 1928. For a short time the company operated under the joint direction of George Macy, president of Macy-Masius, and Jacob Baker, Vanguard's managing director." (Wikipedia) Vanguard Press was a radical but respected publisher founded in 1926 by the American Fund for Public Service (aka the Garland Fund). Rex Stout, no less, was Vanguard's president for its first two years. One of the first M-M/Vanguard books was Big Frogs by Pulitzer Prizewinner Henry Fowles Pringle - the big frogs include Herbert Hoover, Mayor Jimmy Walker and Will H. Hays. / During its independent life, Macy-Masius published an eclectic range of titles, including science fiction (Herbert Asbury), cosmic horror (H B Drake), drama (the plays of the Hungarian dramatist Ferenc Molnįr,* whose Liliom was the basis of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel), and a limited edition of Pierre Louys's Songs of Bilitis. This last was a piece of classy French erotica which had been a favourite of private presses since its publication in 1894. Macy-Masius's version was translated by Alvah C Bessie - whose translation of Batouala the LEC would publish in 1932. *not to be confused with his contemporary the Hungarian footballer Ferenc Molnįr. / Bessie was not the only LEC contributor with an erotica connection. in 1930 John Austen illustrated Louys's Collected Tales for Argus Books (for whom he had illustrated South Wind the previous year); Andre Dignimont (LEC of Le Grand Meaulnes) was famous for his cheerful brothel interiors; the exquisite draughtsman and colourist Sylvain Sauvage was an uninhibited ill. / This is a period artifact of collectible short stories from a collectible publishing house, inscribed and signed by the author.
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