Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Halévy, Ludovic. La famille Cardinal. Illustrée d’un portrait de l’auteur et de trente-trois monotypes en noir et en couleurs par Edgar Degas.

With engr. portrait frontispiece, 31 full-page etchings of which 6 are coloured, and 2 vignettes (drawings) in the text, all after Edgar Degas. 161 pp., 1 leaf. 4to. Orig. printed wrappers in sleeve and slipcase. – Paris, Auguste Blaizot & Fils, 1939 (on wrappers: 1938).

One of 325 numbered copies on vélin de Rives filigrané. The only book illustration by Edgar Degas specifically planned for that purpose. Degas (1834–1917), „une grande vedette moderne“ (Carteret), was conceiving the idea to illustrate Halévys novel since the 1880ies. The project was abandoned, and only 20 years after the artist’s dead the illustrations were published in the present Blaizot edition. – Carteret IV, 197; Monod 5797; The Arist and the Book 71. – Clean copy. – Best.-Nr. 19276