232 - Pablo Picasso - Maurice Toesca. Six contes fantasques. Illustrated with six engravings by Picasso. Paris, Flammarion 1953. With 6 full-page copperplate engravings and 6 woodcut initials. Loose double-page sheets in original wrapper, half-linen slipcase, and outer slipcase.

Pablo Picasso - Maurice Toesca. Six contes fantasques. Illustrated with six engravings by Picasso. Paris, Flammarion 1953. With 6 full-page copperplate engravings and 6 woodcut initials. Loose double-page sheets in original wrapper, half-linen slipcase, and outer slipcase. Starting time: approx. 3:04 p.m. (schedule subject to change) First edition. — Unnumbered dedication copy for André Dubois, one of 100 copies on Vergé d’Arches paper (total print run of 225). - Henri Flammarion had already conceived the plan for this book as early as 1943. Pablo Picasso had met Maurice Toesca while working in the Paris administrative service during the war. Picasso drew inspiration from Toesca’s stories about the relationship between art and nature to create the six copperplate engravings, all of which were produced in a single day. It would be another ten years before the book was published. - The copperplate engravings were printed by Lacourière. - Pierre Bouchet drew and engraved the large initials, in the same style as those Picasso created in 1949 for the “Carmen” edition. - Picasso shared a close friendship with André Dubois (1903–1998), a high-ranking French police officer who frequently visited Picasso in his studio. As a leading representative of the “degenerate” art condemned by the Nazis, he was constantly under threat of arrest; through Dubois’s intervention, Picasso received papers that protected him from persecution by the Nazis and the Vichy administration. Goeppert/Cramer 66. - Bloch 363–368 and livres 64. - Rauch 78. - Not listed in Monod 33 : 25.0 cm. 82, [6] pages. - Slipcase with foxing; spine of the book damaged. - Cover with several foxing spots; pages mostly with a few foxing spots, especially along the edges. English description: With 6 full-page copperplate engravings and 6 woodcut initials. Loose double-leaves in original wrapper, half-cloth chemise, and slipcase. First edition. - Unnumbered dedication copy for André Dubois, like the 100 numbered copies printed on Vergé d’Arches (total print run of 225). - Henri Flammarion conceived the plan for this book as early as 1943. Pablo Picasso had met Maurice Toesca while working in the Paris administrative service during the war. Picasso drew inspiration from Toesca’s stories about the relationship between art and nature to create the six copperplate engravings, all of which were produced in a single day. It would be another ten years before the book was published. - The copperplate engravings were printed by Lacourière. - The large initials were drawn and engraved by Pierre Bouchet, in the same style as those created by Picasso in 1949 for the “Carmen” edition. - The artist shared a close friendship with André Dubois (1903–1998), a high-ranking French police officer who frequently visited Picasso in his studio. As a leading representative of the “degenerate” art condemned by the Nazis, he was constantly under threat of arrest; through Dubois’s intervention, Picasso received documents that protected him from persecution by the Nazis and the Vichy regime. Slipcase foxed; spine of the chemise damaged. — Wrapper with many foxing spots; pages with a few foxing spots, mostly at the edges.