204 - Pierre REVERDY. *Le Chant des morts*, poems. Original lithographs by Pablo Picasso.

Pierre REVERDY. *Le Chant des morts*, poems. Original lithographs by Pablo Picasso. Paris, Tériade, 1948. Folio, loose-leaf, illustrated cover with inlaid decoration, publisher’s slipcase and case. One of the beautiful books illustrated by Picasso, comprising 125 original lithographs in red, including 2 for the cover. A print run of 270 copies on Arches vellum, signed by the poet and the painter (no. 161). The text, a facsimile of the poet’s handwriting, is not adorned with conventional illustrations: “these are merely traces, gashes, hieroglyphs modestly in a trance, twisted lines, and dots that illuminate.” Picasso divides the space into a grid […]. The result is striking. […] The perfection achieved—which painters and poets have always celebrated—gives a sense of the disappointment felt by bewildered collectors for nearly thirty years” (Yves Peyré). “Picasso first considered creating ordinary illustrations, separate from the text, but then preferred to adorn Reverdy’s writing itself, page by page, in the manner of ancient illuminations. Picasso perceived Reverdy’s broad handwriting—which fills the pages without cluttering them—as an arrangement of small black marks that he would complement with large red marks reminiscent of Eastern calligraphy” (Goeppert-Cramer, no. 50). Copy preserved as published. As is often the case, there are a few stains and discolorations. Included is the signed autograph manuscript of the poem “Outre mesure,” which appears in the book on pages 90–91. A beautiful autograph manuscript on a folio-sized page, front and back, with the dedication “To Maurice Nadeau.” The poet has written the poem in his sweeping handwriting, as reproduced in the book. The world is a prison if I am far from what I love / You are not too far away, bars of the horizon