60 - Paul ÉLUARD. *Facile*. Poems by Paul Éluard, photographs by Man Ray. Paris, GLM, 1935. Large 8vo, tab-bound, black half-calf in the Bradel style, title in palladium, Plexiglas covers, slipcase

Paul ÉLUARD. *Facile*. Poems by Paul Éluard, photographs by Man Ray. Paris, GLM, 1935. Large 8vo, tab-bound, black half-calf in the Bradel style, title in palladium, Plexiglas covers, slipcase (D.H. Mercher). First edition. Copy numbered on vellum. Famous album featuring 12 photographs by Man Ray: they were reproduced using the heliogravure process. The front cover is illustrated with a photographic montage. Superb photographs by Man Ray featuring effects he himself had experimented with and perfected: solarization, shadow effects, and double exposure. The text and images aim to celebrate the light falling on the naked body of Nusch, Paul Éluard’s partner. (Coron, Les Éditions GLM, bibliography, no. 73.) Beautiful autographed dedication on the half-title page: To Paulette and Monny de Boully / this book of happiness, / with all my affectionate wishes, / Paul Éluard / Dec. ’46 Monny de Boully (1904–1968), a Franco-Serbian poet, and his wife Paulette Grobermann (1902–1995) were associated with the Surrealists. Two years later, Monny de Boully published *L’Ombre blanche* with Guy Lévis Mano, the publisher of *Facile*. Three original photographs by Man Ray of Nusch Éluard’s nude body, in the book’s format, have been bound at the end. These prints from the 1960s bear a blue-ink stamp on the back reading: “Original print / Man Ray Studio / Paris.” These are three images that were used to illustrate *Facile*; they were originally exhibited in 1938 at the International Exhibition of Surrealism. According to an accompanying note, the binding, executed by D.H. Mercher, was designed by Man Ray.