29 - René CHAR. À la santé du serpent. Illustrated by Joan Miró. Paris, G.L.M., 1954. Large 8vo, sewn binding, in the publisher’s gray cloth slipcase.

René CHAR. À la santé du serpent. Illustrated by Joan Miró. Paris, G.L.M., 1954. Large 8vo, sewn binding, in the publisher’s gray cloth slipcase. First separate edition, illustrated with 26 drawings by Joan Miró “The hieroglyphs [by Joan Mir] that separate the twenty-seven aphorisms are, with one exception, the same as those scattered before and after the poem on mysterious pages of musical notation from which the painter would draw the chords for his accompaniment. It is worth noting the exemplary coherence of this relatively modest book, illustrated with line-art reproductions” (Antoine Coron, René Char, 2007, no. 288.) Limited edition of 604 copies: one of the 550 on vellum paper (no. 167). A copy belonging to Ciska Grillet, to which has been attached the original color lithograph signed by Joan Miret—normally included with the first 54 copies (artist’s proof 3/3). Autographed dedication on the half-title page: For Ciska, sorely missed yet ever-present. Her “brother of the marshes,” R.C. Peintre, Ciska Grillet had joined the Resistance in the Ganagobie maquis. For a time, she hid René Char, becoming his confidante. She was also very close to Nicolas de Staël. In the preface to the catalog for a Ciska Grillet exhibition in 1949, René Char confesses: “During the winter of 1943, a winter of nature as a confidante and of a man on the run, in a remote cottage in the Alpes de Provence, a young woman who divided her time between the difficult task of aiding those evading conscription and a frail easel where she enjoyed placing the canvases she painted with humor, meticulousness, and patience.” Due to a printing error, the cover features the title twice on the front and back covers, upside down. It was reprinted. (Coron, 50 Illustrated Books Since 1947, 1988, No. 16: “Joan Mirillustra illustrated or contributed to the illustrations for some fifteen books by René Char. He is thus, along with Braque and Picasso, one of his three main ‘substantial allies,’ to use the poet’s phrase.”)