123 - Henri MICHAUX. *Mes propriétés*. Paris, J.O.

Henri MICHAUX. *Mes propriétés*. Paris, J.O. Fourcade, 1929. In-8, paperback, modern slipcase. First edition. Fictitious (?) notation of a second edition on the title page. An unclassifiable work with which Michaux hoped to gradually gain the trust of his peers, *Mes propriétés* marks the meeting between Michaux and Jacques-Olivier Fourcade. (Imbert, no. 36.) A precious autographed dedication on the half-title page: To Claude Cahun / an old friend / Henri Michaux Mounted on the preliminary leaf is the famous 1925 double photographic portrait of Henri Michaux by Claude Cahun, but she cut it out, leaving only the two faces (approximately 6.4 x 5 cm). Only a handful of prints of Claude Cahun’s superimposed photograph are known to exist. Here, the two heads have been reversed. Michaux—“who was usually so reluctant to have his image captured by others”—allowed [Claude Cahun] to photograph him around April 1925. The only two photographs of Michaux from that period were taken by Claude Cahun, and they are among the most beautiful and evocative: a mirror portrait of a dual man, in which a photomontage juxtaposes two different photographs. There could be no better way to capture the strangeness of one’s own self, the enigmatic and elusive presence, that complex interplay between narcissism and self-loathing, phobia and fascination with representation” (Jean-Pierre Martin, Henri Michaux, pp. 139–140).