80 - SEGALEN (VICTOR)

SEGALEN (VICTOR) Orphée-roi. An edition illustrated with original woodcuts by G.-D. de MONFREID, with a frontispiece based on a work by Gustave MOREAU. Paris, Georges Crès, Le Théâtre d'art series, 1921. In-8, lemon-colored half-maroquin with corner pieces, ribbed spine, gilt title, date at the foot, gilt head, cover and spine preserved (A. Mertens binding). Frontispiece after Gustave Moreau and 8 illustrations, including 6 headpieces, by George-Daniel de Monfreid. First edition printed in a run of 1,430 numbered copies; no. 628 of 1,400 on Rives vellum. A fine, well-bound copy. Included are 2 other volumes from the same edition, this time paperback: no. 1007 (on Rives vellum) and no. 1019 (on Rives vellum), with a worn cover. A project for a lyric drama conceived in collaboration with Claude Debussy, Victor Segalen’s *Orphée*, born of their and elaborated at length between 1907 and 1916 around a renewed and profoundly human vision of the myth, could not be set to music due to the composer’s illness and subsequent death, leaving the work in the form of an independent poetic drama. Also included: *Segalen and Debussy*. Texts collected and presented by Annie Joly-Segalen and André Schaeffner. Monaco, Éditions du Rocher, [1962]. Square 8vo, paperback. Correspondence between Debussy and Victor Segalen. First edition.