265 - [CASSOU (Jean)] [ARAGON (Louis)]. NOIR (Jean). 33 Sonnets Composed in Secrecy, introduced by François La Colère. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, May 15, 1944 [printed]. A square in-12 volume, bound in solid anthracite morocco leather with a mosaic design on the back extending across the covers and spine, depicting barbed wire; covers and spine preserved. Untrimmed.

[CASSOU (Jean)] [ARAGON (Louis)]. NOIR (Jean). 33 Sonnets Composed in Secrecy, introduced by François La Colère. Paris, Éditions de Minuit, May 15, 1944 [printed]. A square in-12 volume, bound in solid anthracite morocco leather with a mosaic design on the back extending across the covers and spine, depicting barbed wire; covers and spine preserved. Untrimmed. First edition of one of the iconic poetry collections of the Resistance’s underground literature, composed by Jean Cassou under the pseudonym Jean Noir during his imprisonment by the Vichy regime. Limited edition of 140 numbered copies, all on Rives vellum; this one is no. 84. The book was secretly printed in Paris on May 15, 1944, a few weeks before the Liberation. Jean Cassou was arrested in Toulouse in December 1941 for his activities in the Resistance. Deprived of paper and any means of writing, having, in his own words, “only the night for ink, and memory for paper,” he composed these 33 sonnets mentally during his nights in captivity, memorizing them before he could transcribe them. The lengthy preface by Louis Aragon, published under the pseudonym François La Colère, takes up nearly half the volume. Vignes, Bibliography of Éditions de Minuit, no. 19. A superb copy in a mosaic-bound edition directly inspired by Cassou’s imprisonment and the clandestine genesis of the collection.