24 - [ART DECO]. Art Leaflets. First Year—Issues 1 through 6.

[ART DECO]. Art Leaflets. First Year—Issues 1 through 6. The first series, in six installments, of this luxurious Art Deco magazine, an artistic showcase of the interwar period. It features major contributions (André Gide, Paul Valéry, Anna de Noailles, etc.) and superb original illustrations (Kees Van Dongen, Jean-Émile Laboureur, Georges Lepape, etc.). This copy is enhanced with a signed engraving by Laboureur. Paris, n.p., May 1919–July 1920. 6 issues in 2 folio volumes (330 x 260 mm), red ochre half-shagreen bound with a double gold fillet, spine with 4 faux ribs decorated with gold fillets and a central design resembling reptile skin, title and volume number in gold, top edge gilt, linings and endpapers of marbled paper. Slight scuffing and scratches; a few foxing spots at the beginning of the fifth issue; fragile seams at the end of the second volume. A collection of the 6 issues of the first series, published between May 1919 and July 1920, of this luxurious Art Deco magazine founded by Michel Dufet and Edmond Moussi, dedicated to literature, theater, the visual and decorative arts, music, and fashion, with an additional section on advertising beginning with the third issue. Several renowned artists contributed illustrations: Pierre Bonnard, Raoul Dufy, Tsuguharu Foujita, Valentine Hugo, Kees Van Dongen, Georges Barbier, Jean-Emile Laboureur, Georges Lepape, and Charles Martin. Some truly beautiful works stand out among the numerous original, stencil-colored plates published as inserts, some of which were full-page or printed on large, luxury paper: Van Dongen’s “Rimmel,” Laboureur’s “Chez la floriste,” Lepape’s “La femme au miroir rouge,” and Émile Redon’s “Le passage d’une âme,” among others. The texts and articles—some of which are previously unpublished—are by authors such as Jean Giraudoux, Henry de Régnier, the Countess of Noailles, Marcel Proust, Émile Verhaeren, and J.-H. Rosny. Among the most significant are Gide’s translation of Shakespeare, Giraudoux’s literary chronicles, a text by André Salmon on Picasso’s Cubism and a second on “African art,” poems by Claudel, a text by Anna de Noailles illustrated with original woodcuts by Dufy, an article by Vaudoyer on Claude Lorrain’s “Sépias,” and “Redon or the Rights of the Imagination” by Claude Roger Marx. Our copy is enhanced by a second-state proof on Japanese paper of a signed engraving by Laboureur, titled “Promenade au moulin,” reserved for subscribers to the new series of *Feuillets d’art* (1921). From the library of Jean-Claude Chalanson, a passionate collector of illustrated books from the Art Deco period (bookplate on the endpaper). A beautiful set.