229 - Pablo Picasso - Prosper Mérimée. *Carmen*. Paris, La Bibliothèque Française [1949]. With 38 copperplate engravings by Picasso. Loose double-page spreads in original cover. Together in a slipcase and box.

Pablo Picasso - Prosper Mérimée. *Carmen*. Paris, La Bibliothèque Française [1949]. With 38 copperplate engravings by Picasso. Loose double-page spreads in original cover. Together in a slipcase and box. Starting time: approx. 3:02 p.m. (schedule subject to change) One of 289 copies on handmade Montval paper (total print run 320). - Signed by the artist in the colophon. - The story of Carmen, made famous by Georges Bizet’s opera (1875), evoked associations for Picasso with Spain and bullfighting. The engravings were created in 1948. Picasso drew not on the story as told by Mérimée, but on his afterword. The afterword deals with the nature of European Gypsies. Picasso translates their features into simple images of faces: cheerful, grim, seductive, and Janus-faced—they are reminiscent of masks from ancient theater. Goeppert/Cramer 52. - Bloch 531–572 and livres 51. - Monod 8062. - Rauch 72 33.5 × 26.5 cm. 161, [7] pages. - Light foxing throughout, more pronounced on the first and last pages, mostly along the edges. English description: Includes 38 copperplate engravings by Picasso. Loose double-leaves in their original wrapper. Together in a chemise and slipcase. One of 289 copies on handmade Montval paper (total print run: 320). - Signed by the artist in the colophon. - “The story of Carmen, which became popular through Georges Bizet’s opera (1875), evoked associations with Spain and bullfighting in Picasso. The novella’s text is illustrated with 38 burin engravings—one every four pages—created between May and November 1948. The illustrations consist of several studies of different facial features of men and women; there are also some heads of bulls. The beginning and end of each chapter are adorned with engravings within the text; the chapters also begin with ornamental initials. The title page is preceded by an engraving of a woman’s head wearing an Andalusian headdress (Goeppert/Cramer, p. 142). Slightly foxed throughout; the first and last pages are more heavily foxed, mostly at the edges.